WOBURN, MASS. — As part of Wellpoint’s (formerly UniCare) ongoing work to increase access to mental healthcare for its members, Wellpoint recently welcomed InStride Health, a pediatric anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) treatment provider, to its expansive provider network. Wellpoint administers health benefits for more than 200,000 state and municipal employees, retirees, and their families insured by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Group Insurance Commission.

 

InStride Health treats all severity levels for anxiety and OCD for children and young adults ages 7 to 22, with a focus on those with moderate to severe conditions where anxiety and/or OCD are interfering with functioning and causing additional problems (e.g., social isolation, school avoidance, physical symptoms, or depression). InStride Health offers evidence-based treatment through individual and family therapy, patient groups, medication management (if needed), and coaching and care coordination delivered by a highly experienced care team of psychiatrists, therapists, and exposure coaches. Care is delivered virtually and typically begins within one to four weeks of application acceptance.

 

“At Wellpoint, we’re committed to supporting our members’ whole health – their physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being. InStride Health’s evidence-based treatment model offers our youngest members struggling with anxiety or OCD convenient, innovative care that will support better mental health and set them on a path for success in life,” said David Morales, general manager of Wellpoint. “We’re pleased to welcome InStride Health to our expansive network of providers and make care more accessible for the state and municipal workers and families we serve.”

 

InStride Health’s care model was developed and proven by InStride’s clinical co-founders after a decade at Mass General Brigham/McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School System. “We are incredibly proud of our clinical model and of the exceptional care that our care teams deliver. We are dedicated to upholding clinical quality as our guiding principle as we expand access to care for youth with anxiety and OCD,” said Dr. Kathryn Boger, co-founder and Chief Clinical Officer at InStride Health.

 

Preliminary results demonstrate that 90 percent of InStride Health program graduates with initial elevated anxiety symptoms at baseline experienced a reduction in anxiety following two months of treatment, with an average symptom reduction of 46 percent. Additionally, after three months of enrollment, 82 percent of patients reported reduced functional impairment and symptom severity.

 

For more information about InStride Health, visit instride.health.

 

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About Wellpoint
Wellpoint is a health benefits company with deep, long-standing roots in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, serving Group Insurance Commission (GIC) members, retirees, and their families for more than 30 years. Wellpoint provides health benefits exclusively to people insured through the GIC, offering a variety of plan options that provide comprehensive medical benefits. All of our plans also include coverage for prescription drugs and behavioral health services. Administrative services for the plan are provided by Wellpoint Life & Health Insurance Company. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is solely responsible for determination of eligibility and payment of any amounts due under the plan. For more information, go to www.unicaremass.com.

 

Co-founded by the clinicians who co-developed the McLean Anxiety Mastery Program (MAMP) at McLean Hospital, the nationally recognized program for children and adolescents with moderate to severe anxiety and OCD, InStride Health offers human first, technology-enhanced specialty mental health treatment. Through their proven coordinated care model, InStride is leading the way to provide insurance-based access to treatment of pediatric anxiety and OCD that actually works. Driven by the belief that children and families living with mental health struggles deserve better, InStride is more than a continuum of care—it’s a pathway to a healthier life and hope for a more promising future. www.instride.health.