Aetna, one of the largest insurance companies in the U.S., has announced a new on-demand mental health service, slated to roll out to members 13 and older on January 1, 2027.
The tool sets out to solve two problems plaguing mental health: that average appointment wait times can range from 2 weeks to 3 months and the fact that 25% of U.S. adults have an unmet need for their mental health conditions. During initial testing, Aetna Mental Health On-Demand clinicians were able to connect with members in as little as 13 seconds by phone, video or the member website.
“Navigating the mental health system can be difficult. Individuals may not even know how to get started or how to find the right provider,” Miriam Ferriera, vice president of Aetna Mental Wellbeing, said in a press release. “We’ve simplified the experience for members to help them access care and take the next steps with our ongoing support and coordination.”
Aetna’s clinicians are trained in a single-session intervention model, including crisis management, and can connect members to resources, schedule follow-up appointments and support a patient’s ongoing mental health care. The tool also uses AI for note-taking and administrative tasks, so clinicians can focus more attention on the patient and their most immediate needs.
“Aetna will be tracking engagement and outcomes to assess the performance of the program and impact on our members,” a spokesperson for Aetna told Behavioral Health Business. “We are committed to rigorously evaluating the program and using results to inform iterative improvements while exploring opportunities to collaborate more closely with longitudinal providers.”
The development of Aetna Mental Health On-Demand was also borne out of a provider survey the insurance giant conducted among 827 providers in the U.S. It found that about 25% said the most significant action payers could take to ease challenges would be on programs to help patients navigate complex parts of the healthcare system. Additionally, 37% of behavioral health providers mentioned that improved access to care was also a priority.
The on-demand model is staffed by Aetna’s internal clinicians who complete an initial patient assessment and coordinate care as appropriate.
“The assessment focuses on suicidal or homicidal ideation, substance use and domestic violence,” the Aetna spokesperson said. “If the member’s needs exceed what is appropriate for a single-session consultation, they are immediately triaged to the appropriate level of care. The clinician facilitates the navigation to a higher level of care on the member’s behalf.”
Aetna also recently launched a neurodiversity navigation program that launched earlier this year to support members with autism and intellectual disability disorder (IDD) diagnoses, manage and navigate their care.
The company’s decision to invest in, build and launch its own on-demand mental health tool for patients is a bit of a pivot from that of its peers. Other insurers, such as Optum, Cigna or Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), an independent licensee of Blue Cross Blue Shield, have opted to use their venture capital investment arms to capitalize on therapist enablement platforms like Alma or Headway to bring more accessible mental health care to patients.
Aetna does work with some of these platforms. In fact, the insurance company just cut its rates for Alma-contracted therapists. Even still, Aetna has some of the highest reimbursement rates of all commercial insurers for 60-minute individual psychotherapy sessions across the board.
CVS Health (NYSE: CVS), Aetna’s parent company, is off to a strong financial start this year, with its first quarter total revenue increasing to $100.4 billion — up 6.2% from last year. Most of that has been driven by Aetna, the company acknowledged during its first-quarter earnings call in early May.
Its primary focus going forward, according to Steven Hale Nelson, the executive vice president and president of Aetna, will be on “returning Aetna to being a leader in health care solutions, not just transactions,” he said during the earnings call.