Who they are
Anthem, Inc. rebranded as Elevance Health in 2022. Its behavioral health arm is Carelon Behavioral Health — the rebrand of Beacon Health Options, which Anthem acquired (closing in 2020). Beacon itself was the merger of Beacon Health Strategies and ValueOptions.
The behavioral health contracting entity
Under Elevance, behavioral health for its plans is administered by Carelon. The lineage matters in practice: many facilities hold legacy Beacon Health Options contracts and don't realize Carelon is the same entity. When you contract for Elevance-plan behavioral health, you're contracting with Carelon.
Levels of care
Carelon contracts across the behavioral health continuum — inpatient psychiatric, detoxification, residential treatment, partial hospitalization (PHP), intensive outpatient (IOP), and outpatient. Covered benefits vary by plan.
Websites & portals
- elevancehealth.com
Elevance Health corporate site.
- carelonbehavioralhealth.com
Carelon Behavioral Health provider site.
Scope
Carelon's behavioral health network is national. Elevance's Anthem-brand Blue Cross Blue Shield plans are offered in 14 states.
Notable context
Optum and Carelon are the two largest behavioral-health-specific networks in the country.
State guides
Where Anthem / Elevance / Carelon appears in our state-by-state guide to the payer landscape:
California · Colorado · Connecticut · Georgia · Indiana · Kentucky · Maine · Missouri · Nevada · New Hampshire · New York · Ohio · Virginia · Wisconsin
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