The U.S. is in the throes of a mental health crisis. Deaths from drugs, alcohol and suicide more than doubled between 2000 and 2017 and continue to rise. As the largest payer of behavioral health services in the country, Medicaid is crucial to serving society’s most vulnerable. But the infrastructure and funding for these services varies by state.

Indiana, which had ranked low in national mental health rankings, established a behavioral health commission in 2020. The group was charged with improving the state’s infrastructure and outcomes in mental health. Jay Chaudhary, then the director of the Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction, led that effort. In today’s episode, he takes senior writer Anastassia Gliadkovskaya through the overhaul, lessons learned and potential future policy threats to care access.

Chaudhary is currently a senior fellow for mental health and community wellness at the Sagamore Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank. He also writes a Substack newsletter, Favorable Thriving Conditions.

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Learnings from Indiana's behavioral health system overhaul