An empathetic female counselor listens as a vulnerable patient shares about a difficult situation.

How to transform care models to deliver better mental health care

Photographic portrait of Kim Dalla Torre
Kim Dalla Torre

EY Global and Americas Health Leader

10 minute read 14 Apr 2025
Related topics
Health

New EY research spotlights four focus areas where health organizations can improve mental health access, experience and outcomes.

In brief

  • Interviews with health executives reveal inadequate mental health data collection stalls many efforts to extract actionable insights.
  • Health executives want to see more consistency in the practice of mental health care and a focus shift of dollars from acute care to prevention.
  • Digital health transformation holds the key to improved mental health care by providing better data insights and fostering an integrated care ecosystem.

In the EY US Consumer Health Survey 2025, 42% of US consumer respondents rated the mental health care system as fair or poor. In sometimes emotional interviews, even health executives themselves shared their own battles in getting proper mental health care for their loved ones.

The new EY research spotlights a path forward to deliver better outcomes and experiences via a system that demystifies the journey, is more transparent about costs and outcomes and helps connect people to the right providers at the optimal time throughout their care. Nearly all of the health care experts interviewed said better data collection and insights are critical to help countries understand the mental health needs of the population and of individuals, so they can intervene more effectively and drive toward more measurement-based care.

Impatient stakeholders aren’t seeing the value

However, health care systems have not fully convinced health care consumers of the value of mental health care delivery — one in three (31%) of US respondents to the EY survey said they can take care of the problem themselves while another 19% said professional help doesn’t work.

of respondents believe they can take care of the problem themselves.
of respondents don't believe professional support would help.

The skepticism could be attributed to the journey itself, as half of US respondents indicate they don’t know where to start looking for help with their mental health. Forty percent cited insurance reasons as barriers to care.

Our findings show consumers are challenged by access, cultural barriers and not understanding what type of care they need, whether it be a psychologist who can provide talk therapy, a psychiatrist who can prescribe medication, a peer counselor or someone in between. Financial reasons and lack of transparency about costs also are a major concern. So how can health organizations start to transform care?

Mental health care chart

The solution lies in digital health transformation

1. Improve mental health data collection and analytics for better and more equitable outcomes.

While quality data collection has lagged within the traditional health care system, mental health data collection is woefully inadequate, according to interviews with executives across the globe. As a result, health organizations often lack a true sense of their population’s needs, and the insight needed to proactively intervene on an individual level.

Without that data infrastructure, health organizations are unable to apply basic analytics or artificial intelligence (AI) tools to gather insights on patient demand and needs. As health systems try to build this infrastructure, they should be guided by governance policies that acknowledge the unique data privacy regulations over health and mental health data, and determine how to use the data in ways that ensure trust. When integrating systems and applying AI, that governance will be important to avoid the introduction of bias or hallucinations that could exacerbate already existing challenges.

The survey also found that global consumers are open to digital tools that can help with mental health, as long as health organizations are transparent and help them see the value of using digital health technologies to connect them with providers, peer groups and other supports. More than 60% of US respondents said they would feel comfortable using genetic tests that show whether they are predisposed to have certain mental health conditions; 60% also would feel comfortable using digital technologies that collect and share their mental health data with providers.

Health organizations need to embed privacy and security in their design of all infostructure, apps and algorithms. Patients want to know their data is encrypted end to end and that it will not leave the systems they have approved to access their data.

2. Transform care models for better triage, more prevention and integration.

Interviews and survey results highlight the barriers to accessing timely mental health care, and these barriers can result in inefficiency and waste. When people are not routed appropriately, too many progress to a crisis situation, focusing the system resources on inpatient beds and acute care. Meanwhile, issues that could be resolved earlier with less suffering, cost and burden to the system go unaddressed.

US consumers respondents said they are open to preventative mental health care: 83% indicated they would take a mental health screening annually if it is made available at no or minimal cost, lower than the percentage who reported they would take annual preventative physical health tests like blood tests (89%) but higher than those who would do a skin check (80%). Integrated, patient-centered care models help to decrease stigma and identify issues earlier, and evidence suggests¹ better outcomes in the short and long term.

Interviews highlight the ability of integrated mental health care teams to provide the right level of care when consumers need it, stepping care up and down, especially when many who are struggling don’t know what they need. Nearly 70% of US respondents said they were very or somewhat comfortable addressing mental health care with their primary care doctor, with older generations being more likely to both have a doctor and be comfortable with them. But taking advantage of this opportunity would require integrated data platforms and a more coordinated ecosystem focused on prevention. Payers and governments also have a role to play in incentivizing a shift to more preventative, predictive mental health care that is consistent in quality.

Another digital avenue for health organizations to pursue is to build intuitive, helpful digital front doors via online portals or apps that help make the mental health care experience better and more effective, connecting them to care when they need and clarifying how to get help.

3. Show value and progress to consumers, payers and stakeholders.

The top barriers cited for US consumer respondents are financial or insurance issues. If they are already concerned about affordability, and not convinced of the value, health organizations could make gains by education consumers and other stakeholders about the value of mental health care, helping them understand treatment decisions and show progress.

The lack of measurement-based care hampers the ability of providers to make the case to consumers and payers that mental health care services are valuable. And other stakeholders point to a lack of accountability when it comes to delivering quality mental health outcomes.

Without data, providers also have struggled to show payers the value of these services. “Payers want to have an ROI, the reality is that mental health care delivery has lacked structure, accountability, measurability and transparency for a long, long time,” said Brad Kittredge, founder and CEO of Brightside Health, an online provider of mental health care services in the US. “With cardiac disease or diabetes, providers can show much more rigorous outcomes. There is a lot of science behind mental health care despite the subjective decisions sometimes made,” he said.

4. Invest in the areas where consumers say health organizations are failing in important ways.

Nearly a third of US respondents (29%) cited a lack of mental health professionals with skills specific to their needs as a barrier; 60% of US consumers said they changed their mental health professional to find a better fit, with the top reasons cited as lack of personal connection or compatibility or wanting a second opinion.

The survey findings suggest consumers are overwhelmed with information and don’t know what type of provider they need. They struggle to access care and understand their financial costs, leading to inequities. However, 56% of US respondents said they are strongly or somewhat open to digital apps that would help develop new skills or reinforce positive behavior patterns.

EY consumer research spotlights the points in mental health journeys where health organizations have the most opportunity to improve interactions that consumers deem the most important, but also find the most difficult. Those points are:

  • Knowing where to start looking for help with my mental health
  • Knowing what kind of mental health professional to seek out
  • Getting care in a timely manner when needed
  • Choosing the right type of professional that aligns with my needs
  • Finding services I could afford
  • Being clear on out-of-pocket costs
  • Feeling like mental health care is affordable

How EY can help

Key takeaways

By age 75, half the global population² is expected to develop one or more mental disorders³ during their lifetime. Post COVID-19, countries⁴ around the globe have declared crises as their youth and adult populations struggled with increased rates of depression, loneliness, anxiety and other challenges. In the US,⁵ the number of adolescents showing up to the emergency department for suicide attempts increased by nearly a third as the pandemic set in.

 

The lack of investment in preventative mental health care does not mean society is escaping these costs. In headlines and government budgets every day, the costs can be seen in terms of lost productivity, hospitalizations, violence, homelessness, suicide, substance abuse, crime and suffering for individuals and their loved ones. To illustrate the unseen price tag, the cost to just one state (Indiana⁶) in the US was estimated at $4.2 billion annually in societal costs.

 

Anyone who has waited with a child or loved one in a mental health crisis knows how terrifying it can be, and how confusing it can be to know where to go, who to trust, what kind of help is needed, what it will cost and whether it will work. Post-pandemic, the costs to society, to families, to providers and health systems are evident. More effective, preventative and transparent mental health care journeys are the way forward.

Summary

Future mental health care models will rely on a full data picture of their patients and populations to deliver the care that consumers say they want — care that is available when and where they need it, easy to navigate, effective and affordable.


About this article

Photographic portrait of Kim Dalla Torre
Kim Dalla Torre
EY Global and Americas Health Leader
Passionate about working smarter for the benefit of patients. Proud resident of Nashville, tennis-loving sailor and mountain climber, mother and wife.
Related topics
Health

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients.