Open or same-day access to behavioral healthcare holds promise for improving timely access to services. Some provider organizations have implemented open access to services, using approaches that increased staff productivity and financial stability. To date, no study has previously documented the experience of provider organizations using this model in Massachusetts.
This report and its related case studies, developed for the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, identify organizations that operate open access today, describe the open access models they use, and highlight the approaches that have been most successful.