3 ways to help drive effective behavioral health utilization
The solution is not just adding more providers. It’s about helping guide employees to available resources designed to address their specific needs.
- Behavioral health costs for employers increased 10.9% between 2024 and 2025, driven by rising demand,1 as 60 million U.S. adults received mental health treatment in 2024 compared to 41.4 million in 20203
- To manage these costs effectively, employers may want to offer a continuum of care options — from digital tools and coaching to traditional therapy — since approximately 90% of members have lower-severity needs that may not require intensive treatment4
- Educating employees about available benefits, fostering a supportive workplace culture with leadership commitment and working with carriers that provide guided navigation may help drive effective utilization
Demand for mental health support is increasing — and so has the affiliated cost to employers. In fact, between 2024 and 2025 alone, the cost of treating and managing behavioral health issues increased 10.9% for employers, according to the UnitedHealthcare 2026 Health Trends Report.1
Stress and burnout are contributing to these increases: 66% of surveyed employees experienced burnout in 2025.2 Additionally, 60M U.S. adults received mental health counseling or treatment in 2024, versus just 41.4M in 2020.3
The growing demand for and utilization of behavioral health benefits over the years represents the strides made in expanding access to behavioral health care, but it also poses a new challenge: how to drive more effective utilization to help control the affiliated costs.
For employers, it is about ensuring employees and their covered family members feel comfortable seeking support — while also having the tools and guidance needed to help drive more effective utilization without sacrificing quality. This means:
Ensuring employees have access to a continuum of support
Not every behavioral health challenge requires the same level of care. It is important that employers also look beyond their network strategies and work to offer alternative means of support.
“We need to expand our perspective on what care looks like and get people comfortable with trying solutions and support that may work just as effectively as talk therapy,” says Trevor Porath, vice president of behavioral health solutions for UnitedHealthcare Employer & Individual. “Solutions designed for lower-severity issues give members immediate, convenient access to care — bypassing provider availability constraints.”
Understanding this, UnitedHealthcare offers a behavioral health continuum that uses clinical knowledge and data analytics to help guide members to care options that best fit their needs and schedules, ranging from educational resources and self-care tools to coaching, in-person or virtual therapy, psychiatry and facility-based care.
This continuum uses a severity scale from low (preventive) to moderate (emerging risks) to high (crisis and recovery) to provide the most useful behavioral health solutions for employees and their dependents, including youth and family support.
And while employers should look to offer solutions that span the full continuum of care needs, the biggest opportunity may be in driving more effective utilization within the low-to-moderate severity categories — especially considering that approximately 90% of UnitedHealthcare commercial members had lower-severity needs that could have been appropriate for the low-severity solutions.4
Oftentimes, the support people need may not require traditional talk therapy. Digital self-help tools, “in-the-moment” telephonic support, behavioral health coaching and apps like Calm Health can be effective alternatives. These options may offer on-demand mental health screenings and support, 24/7 access to master’s-level mental health specialists, clinician-designed personalized programs and a library of mindfulness and self-care resources.
“Historically, a member’s first step into behavioral health has been through a therapist or psychiatrist. What we found is that not all members need that level of care,” says Stacie Grassmuck, director of behavioral health products and innovation for UnitedHealthcare Employer & Individual. “By offering digital tools like behavioral health coaching and Calm Health, members have access to immediate support and practical coping strategies they can use daily — addressing depression and stress triggers before they reach a point requiring more intensive care.”
Among members who completed 2 or more mental health assessments via Calm Health, nearly 43% of engaged members experienced improvement in both depression and anxiety symptoms.5 This highlights the value of engagement with these digital tools and ongoing self-assessment.
Educating employees about available behavioral health benefits
Educating employees about behavioral health benefits is essential for driving utilization and helping ensure those who need support can access it. Despite significant organizational investment in behavioral health coverage, awareness gaps remain the primary barrier to care.
Targeted communications must go beyond annual enrollment materials. Regular touchpoints through email, intranet resources, manager toolkits and onboarding should clearly outline all available services with specific guidance on access, confidentiality and costs.
Identifying mental health champions and well-being committees can help amplify these efforts by creating peer-support networks that normalize seeking support, provide trusted sources of information and help ensure mental health is embedded in workplace culture and policies — from flexible work arrangements to performance management.
However, education alone is insufficient without authentic top-down cultural commitment. When leaders openly discuss mental health, share their own experiences and utilize benefits, they signal that behavioral health is a business priority. This requires:
- Consistent messaging that mental health equals overall health
- Policies that protect employees from discrimination when seeking care
- Leadership accountability for psychological safety
Organizations that integrate mental well-being into core values may see better utilization, improved retention and measurable productivity gains.6
Working with a carrier that helps guide employees and their families to support based on their severity level
Access to strong behavioral health benefits means little if employees cannot navigate the system effectively. Without proper navigation, members struggle to find care, leading to under- or over-utilization and higher costs. Guided navigation can help transform this experience by directing members to the right resources based on their specific needs through integrated digital tools and personal advocacy support.
For instance, UnitedHealthcare provider search capabilities offer personalized results based on member preferences (e.g., location, language, appointment availability, virtual versus in-office care) while prioritizing providers who meet nationally recognized quality standards and accounting for members’ specific benefits and coverage. Members can even view real-time appointment availability and schedule directly within the provider search experience, eliminating extra steps and accelerating access to care. It’s all designed to help employees and their family members make more informed care choices.
This guided experience is also supported by Advocates who listen for signs of distress during member calls, help explain the differences between licensed mental health professionals and connect members to additional services beyond basic mental health support.
Predictive analytics strengthen this navigation framework by identifying members who may need behavioral health support before they seek it — using diagnostic codes, utilization patterns, social drivers of health (SDOH) and chronic disease prevalence to help segment populations and trigger proactive outreach.
When behavioral and medical benefits are administered by the same carrier, these insights become even more impactful. With 11% of UnitedHealthcare members having had comorbid medical and behavioral health conditions — and accounting for 22% of total care costs — more coordinated navigation between those benefits is designed to help support earlier intervention, more connected care experiences and better whole-person health outcomes.7
What’s next in this utilization puzzle?
Behavioral health utilization continues to rise as stigma diminishes, and access expands through virtual and digital platforms, yet measuring its value is inherently subjective.
A recent study evaluated effectiveness using outcome-focused quality measures that examined whether care helped improve patients’ health and functioning, based on patient-reported symptoms, person-centered goals and validated assessments—rather than simply whether patients received care or had access.8
As the industry works to better define the effectiveness of behavioral health services, it’s vital that employers work with a carrier who has the breadth of offerings and the care navigation strategies that can support employees and help prevent employers from paying more than what’s necessary and appropriate.
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