ABHW Welcomes Alera Health as Inaugural Policy Partner to Accelerate the Delivery of Clinically Integrated, Value-Based Care

Leveraging High-Performance Networks to Improve Health Outcomes for High-Cost, Vulnerable Populations

Washington, D.C. – January 26, 2026 – The Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness (ABHW) and Alera Health announced a strategic partnership to accelerate adoption of innovative payment models that promote access to high-quality, evidenced-based care for people with a primary or secondary behavioral health disorder. As an extension to managed care, Clinically Integrated Networks (CINs) assemble diverse networks of service providers who are incentivized under pay for performance models to improve health outcomes and lower unnecessary health care costs. People with behavioral health and co-occurring medical disorders frequently encounter barriers to engaging in complex outpatient care, leading to health care costs five to six times higher than average and an alarming reduction in life expectancy of 27 years.

“ABHW has long supported value-based contracting and the shared accountability of a Clinically Integrated Network as a pathway to whole-person care,” said Debbie Witchey, ABHW President and CEO. “Our managed care organizations have decades of experience in population health, and we look forward to the opportunity to learn from Alera Health and its ONEcare Networks through dialogue and collaboration focused on improving health outcomes.”

Alera Health’s ONEcare Networks bring together behavioral health, medical, and social care organizations to improve health outcomes by facilitating data-sharing, coordinating care, and expanding the use of evidence-based practices. ONEcare networks are established across the U.S. with over 200 provider organizations employing 35,000 behavioral and medical clinicians who support over four million health care consumers, including roughly 450,000 with severe mental illness. In 2024, ONEcare networks nationwide reduced inpatient utilization by over 350,000 bed days and reduced medical spend by roughly 10.6% to target.

“Since 2016, our team at Alera has been focused on enabling organizations serving high-need, polychronic healthcare consumers to succeed with whole-person care and value-based contracting,” said Mike Rhoades, CEO of Alera Health. “Behavioral health providers have proven they can be effective in community outreach and care coordination, and we are excited to partner with ABHW to promote policies and regulations that expand the role of CINs across the healthcare continuum.”  

ABOUT THE ASSOCIATION FOR BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS
ABHW is the leading health plan association working to improve access and quality of care for mental health and substance use disorders. ABHW’s members include national and regional health plans that care for 200 million people. Together, we work to reduce stigma and advance federal policy on mental health and substance use disorder care. ABHW member companies – Aetna, a CVS Health Company; CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield; Carelon Behavioral Health, an Elevance Health Company; Centene Corporation; Evernorth; Kaiser Permanente; Lucet; Magellan Health; Molina Healthcare; Optum; and PerformCare, a subsidiary of AmeriHealth Caritas. To learn more, visit www.abhw.org and follow us on BlueSky, LinkedIn, and X.

ABOUT ALERA HEALTH
Alera Health, a national leader in population health management and integrated care, works closely with healthcare payers, providers, and community partners to operationalize and manage high-performance ONEcare networks delivering comprehensive, inclusive, and informed whole-person care designed to improve health outcomes and reduce costs. Alera Health has extensive operational expertise in developing clinically integrated networks, population health analytics, care coordination technologies, and clinical quality improvement programs. Each ONEcare network is augmented by the Care Optimization Suite, which allows for real-time communication, referrals, and AI-enabled patient engagement. With over 4 million managed lives across the US, ONEcare networks share resources and evidence-based practices to divert over 300,000 inpatient bed days annually while lowering 30-day readmission rates by over 50%. Learn more at www.alerahealth.com