The Changing Medicaid Pharmacy Carve-Out Landscape

The number of primary Medicaid behavioral health carve-outs is on the decline. In our annual analysis, we’ve seen a decrease in the number of states with behavioral health carve-outs and an increase in the number of states with integrated financing (see Do States Still Have Medicaid Behavioral Health Carve-Outs?). While the trend is toward integrated financing for physical and behavioral health services, does this apply to pharmacy benefits?

Our latest report, State Medicaid Mental Health Pharmacy Carve-Outs, analyzed the market. Before diving into the findings, it’s important to level set on exactly what we . . .