The High Cost of Comorbidities: What Can You Do About It?

There is often a correlation between behavioral health issues and comorbid, or co-occurring, medical conditions. In fact, mental health and substance use disorders are leading factors contributing to the aggravation of co-occurring conditions. It’s common for someone with a behavioral health condition to have one or more physical conditions. Take baby boomers, for example, by 2020 nearly 25 million of them are expected to have multiple chronic conditions.

Left unaddressed, an individual’s behavioral health challenges can exacerbate comorbid conditions, leading to excessive spending in primary or acute care – costing nearly four to six times as much as someone without comorbid conditions. That’s why it’s vital for healthcare providers to consider behavioral health as a driving factor in a person’s physical health or they may find themselves spending money on the symptoms caused by unaddressed behavioral health conditions.

Healthcare is making the shift to integrate behavioral health and physical healthcare. With multiple care settings and providers involved in the treatment of comorbid conditions, it’s even more important to have a full view into an individual’s health history, spanning across multiple care settings, to make the best decisions to provide care that supports all conditions with a whole-person approach.

Explore the infographic below to see more about the connection between mental and physical health, the excessive cost of comorbidity and what your organization can do to help mitigate it.

To learn more about how you can integrate behavioral health and physical healthcare to avoid costly readmissions and provide whole-person care, make sure to catch our webinar, The Avoidable Cost and Risk Associate with Siloed Healthcare.