Behavioral Health Spending Reached $231.6 Billion In 2015. What Does That Mean?

Behavioral health spending reached $213.6 billion last year – an increase of $25.2 billion, or 13.4%, since 2011. The majority of that spending was for mental health services, which accounted for 84%, or $195.6 billion, in spending. The other 16%, or $36 billion, was for addiction treatment services.

The numbers themselves are not meaningful, but there are some interesting implications within them. For organizations that provide (or manage) mental health and addiction treatment services, there are important strategic questions:

Is growth in behavioral health spending exceeding total health spending growth?
Is behavioral health spending increasing or decreasing . . .