What does it take to deliver whole-person care? That was the topic of Lucet’s panel discussion at Behavioral Health Tech 2025. Moderated by MedCity News reporter Marissa Plescia, panelists Samantha Chafin (Senior Director of Behavioral Health Strategy & Operational Integration at Florida Blue), Philip Cirrone (Chief Growth Officer of Elite DNA Behavioral Health), and Visar Tasimi, (SVP of Provider Success at Lucet) addressed the realities of integrating behavioral and physical health care.
“Wherever organizations are in their journey to value-based care, success comes down to provider capability to execute and align outcomes to payments.”
Visar Tasimi – SVP, Provider Success
Elevating behavioral health to executive-level strategy
Samantha Chafin acknowledged that her organization needed time to evolve to a new model of care that incorporated behavioral health. For the past six years, the plan has embraced a simple, internal directive: “put the head back on the body.”
This means reframing even the most straightforward clinical encounters. For example, if a patient comes in complaining of arm pain, physical therapy might be the obvious physical solution, but it’s only part of the picture. Integrated care requires that behavioral health support sits naturally alongside physical care, and the aim is to make that link simple behind the scenes.
What’s holding integrated care back?
There are a number of reasons for the slow adoption of integrated care, but across the panel there was general agreement that misaligned incentives were the main cause.
Tasimi stated that even when behavioral health risk is carved into risk-bearing primary care, PCPs often remain focused on their own metrics, which rarely include behavioral health outcomes.
Florida Blue equips trustedPCPs with clear explanations and portal resources to help patients understand the value of mental health care. Incentives also play a role, Chafin said, with reward structures driving wellness visits, follow-up care and outcomes rather than volume.
Cirrone offered his view on the challenge from the provider side: “Fifty percent of patients who come to Elite DNA haven’t seen a primary care doctor in the last 12 months,” he said. For providers serving high-need populations, transactional reimbursement models simply don’t work. He stressed the need for partnerships, not siloed payment relationships, so providers can offer comprehensive, coordinated care.
In-home care: where integration gets real
Lucet recently deepened investments in in-home care and early learnings have been revealing. Tasimi shared feedback from clinicians in the field: “The first thing we heard was, ‘we’re seeing behavioral health needs in screenings, but we don’t have an efficient behavioral health solution to offer.’” Lucet has responded by rolling out a new product offering to equip nurse practitioners with tools to interpret and act on behavioral health findings, which will increase patient adherence long after the appointment ends.
Chafin noted that 40–50% of inpatient diagnoses include a behavioral health comorbidity, which makes coordinated follow-up essential. Their value-based PCPs are incentivized accordingly, and longstanding collaboration with Lucet has strengthened that pipeline.
Reimbursement models that drive integration
When asked which reimbursement structures move the needle, all agreed that alignment matters more than complexity. Chafin pointed to incentives around HEDIS measures, follow-up care and rapid access. Lucet’s NavConnect™ platform has been a critical piece of that. “Eighty-seven percent of Florida Blue members get to their first appointment within seven days,” she said.
Tasimi emphasized that organizations need clarity. “Wherever organizations are in their journey to value-based care, success comes down to provider capability to execute and align outcomes to payments.”
Cirrone cited provider readiness as another barrier. Two-thirds of behavioral health providers practice in groups of ten or fewer, many of whom only recently moved away from paper workflows. “Getting them comfortable with tools like NavConnect is what gets providers excited about a move to value-based care,” he said.
Data has become the north star
The panelists underscored the importance of data, but from a different angle.
Tasimi emphasized its role in strategic planning. “We only have so many resources,” he said. “Data helps us find where the highest needs are and put them in priority order.”
Cirrone framed it as the foundation for trust and coordination: “Data creates a shared language and a shared goal. When we have standardized measures, we can move from anecdote to evidence.” Behavioral health, he noted, has historically been highly subjective. Data offers a path to objectivity, helping identify gaps and allocate resources.
Choosing the right partners
Partnership selection came up repeatedly, and culture was as critical as capability. Chafin described Florida Blue’s long-standing, values-aligned relationship with Lucet: “Over 15 years, we’ve built a cultural match. We’re growing in the same direction.”
Cirrone echoed that flexibility and responsiveness are differentiators. “Lucet is ready to listen and try things. We want partners who move with the market.”
Tasimi added that real integration requires reciprocity. “Behavioral health must be an equal peer in the care team. Data sharing cannot be one-directional.”
Integration advice: Start small, iterate and bring clinicians to the table
According to Tasimi, the right approach is experimentation over perfection. “Don’t wait for a single solution. You need trials and matches for each care gap.” Lucet piloted with a 60-office PCP group, and only a handful used the platform at first, but incremental adjustments led to full adoption.
Chafin spoke about the importance of flexibility to meet provider needs, recommending that partners need to “figure out how you can integrate into their practice — not the other way around.” Cirrone warned that the most common failure point is excluding providers early. “Provider buy-in is key. Any failure came from not bringing clinicians in soon enough.”
The shared takeaway from the panel was that to successfully integrate behavioral and physical health requires the alignment of:
- incentives
- workflows
- technology
- provider readiness
- above all—culture
Panelists agreed that integrated care should function like an orchestra — each role distinct, but unified.
Rachel Jenkins is a marketing manager at Lucet.
