A flagship moment on this theme
"If we think about this in the same way, on the physical health side of healthcare, every chronic condition has a vital sign. Whether hypertension, has blood pressure, diabetes has hemoglobin A1C, whether we're looking at obesity, maybe it's BMI and weight. We don't have those same objective vital signs in the mental health arena."
The vital signs analogy is the clearest possible frame for why outcome measurement matters. It connects an abstract concept to something every clinician already understands about physical health, and the gap it names is genuinely striking.
Where this is a central topic
5 episodes
Inside Behavioral Health Systems with Cathy Gilbert
The episode opens here and Kathy explains why it has moved so slowly in behavioral health, specifically the thin outpatient claims data, small practice volumes, and the difficulty of measuring mental health outcomes at scale.
AI and Measurement-Based Care with Dr. Dylan Ross
Defined, defended, and explored across the full episode as both an evidence-based practice and the data infrastructure that value-based payment models require — the spine of the conversation from definition through adoption barriers to AI solutions.
Strategy, Not Panic with Jeremy Zug
Jeremy and Rachel had a substantive exchange on why value-based care has been slower to roll out in mental health than medicine, including the value-based vs. value-informed distinction and the measurement problem created by geographic and socioeconomic variables outside the clinician's control.
Making Value-Based Care Work with Josephine Wilton Pt. 1
The explicit subject of the episode: how provider organizations actually operationalize VBC contracts, from contracting through performance year execution.
Why Value-Based Care Can Feel So Hard with Josephine Wilton, Pt. 2
The entire episode centers on how behavioral health providers can prepare for, enter, and negotiate value-based payment arrangements with health plans.
Mentions
2 episodes
Mentions
2 episodes
Advocating for Mental Health Insurance Reform | Lisa R. Savage of the Center for Child Development
Rachel mentions the shift toward value-based care in passing as one of several pressures reshaping the field, but the episode does not explore it substantively.
Real Change
Mentioned only in the setup as one of the articles the group read before convening; not discussed substantively in the conversation itself.
Looking to go deeper in your own work?
These TSTI trainings build on conversations from the episodes above.