The Impact of COVID-19 on Financing of Psychiatric Services.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 had a significant impact on the delivery of behavioral health services, with significant short-term and long-range consequences. Intertwined with the delivery of services has been the financial ramifications of the pandemic. The rapid response by governmental agencies to shore up financial support for clinical services, and the swift shift to virtual care provided relief for a broad array of practice settings; however, it did not mitigate the full impact of the pandemic. Effective state, national, and international leadership, communication, and coordination are critical to improve the global response to any pandemic.