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Summary
What is known about this topic?
Behavioral health needs in the United States are not being met by the current health care system, and the COVID-19 pandemic will likely dramatically increase the need for psychological services.
What is added by this report?
Adopting a population health approach provides opportunities to target interventions to those populations and communities most in need of psychological health care services, with the potential of preventing development of disorders.
What are the implications for public health practice?
Implementing and evaluating population health strategies to promote overall well-being requires system change that translates to policy decisions and programs to meet the needs of local communities.
Introduction
Calls to bring a population health framework to the nation’s health care system have been increasing. Although this approach had been steadily gaining traction for physical health (1), using this approach with respect to behavioral health (ie, mental health and substance use conditions) has only recently been considered (2,3). However, the need for this approach has never been so apparent as it is during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Individuals and communities are grappling with the spread of the virus, the struggle to effectively treat all infected individuals, and the challenges of physical distancing and quarantine, all while attempting to reopen the economy. These challenges, along with the economic impact of prolonged school and business closures and high levels of stress and uncertainty, exact a tremendous psychological toll on many people in the United States (4). The existing capacity of the US health care system to address the resulting behavioral health needs is severely limited (5). A population health approach is needed to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the inadequacies of the nation’s current approach to behavioral health needs, which have been magnified during the pandemic (6).
The current approach to behavioral health care in the United States is primarily a one-on-one approach that focuses on individuals who have a clinical diagnosis (7). This approach drastically limits the number of people for whom the appropriate level of care is available, let alone addressing the needs of those whose level of psychological distress does not reach the diagnostic threshold. As a result, many people with high levels of stress and uncertainty are...