Continuum launches collaborative behavioral health program

IAN LANG, executive director of Continuum Behavioral Health, has said that the HealthPath partnership developed in partnership with Care New England and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island is a recognition that the behavioral health care system in Rhode Island can be strengthened. / PBN FILE PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS
IAN LANG, executive director of Continuum Behavioral Health, has said that the HealthPath partnership developed in partnership with Care New England and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island is a recognition that the behavioral health care system in Rhode Island can be strengthened. / PBN FILE PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS

CRANSTON – Continuum Behavioral Health, Care New England and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island on Friday formally announced the launch of HealthPath, a behavioral health care initiative developed under a partnership of the three organizations.

First reported by Providence Business News earlier this month, the partnership is one of the first in the country to bring together an insurance company, a hospital system and a community-based provider for the purpose of improving, and making more cost-effective, behavioral health care delivery.

Ian Lang, the recently installed executive director at The Providence Center’s for-profit behavioral health subsidiary known as Continuum, told PBN that the partnership represented the recognition that the behavioral health care system in Rhode Island can be strengthened.

“There is a need to link primary care and behavioral health much more efficiently,” Lang said, “just as there has been a growing conversation around the fact that primary care is so important as a care coordinator.”

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Under the two-year pilot program, HealthPath will provide BCBSRI members with coordinated behavioral health care, similar to other establishments of the health care industry working to become more coordinated, such as the patient-centered medical home and the accountable care organization.

According to a release announcing the partnership, the suite of services offered through HealthPath will be “comprehensive, coordinated, community-based,” and “supportive.”

An event celebrating the launch of the partnership will take place at 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 6, at Continuum Behavioral Health’s new location at 75 Sockanosset Crossroad in Cranston.

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