Outpatient mental health care linked to lower medical costs, research shows

Having one or more outpatient behavioral health treatment visits was associated with lower health care costs among patients with newly diagnosed behavioral health conditions, a JAMA Network Open study finds, reports Healthpayer Intelligence. Adults with a behavioral health condition incur 2.8 to 6.2 times greater medical costs than those without one, and nearly a quarter of adults had a behavioral health condition as of 2018.