For people with serious mental illness, substance use disorder, chronic medical conditions and unstable housing, getting the right care at the right time can be difficult. Too often, this leads to repeated emergency department visits and inpatient stays without lasting improvements in health or stability. That’s why UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Missouri is investing in Project BEACN (Building Engagement to Address Complex Needs), a community-based effort designed to improve outcomes for plan members with complex needs.
By investing in early engagement, intensive outreach and cross-system coordination, Project BEACN aims to reduce avoidable emergency department visits, inpatient stays and overall costs while improving continuity of care. This initiative will demonstrate how managed care can support system-level transformation by investing in models that treat complexity with coordination.
What makes Project BEACN special
Built on a proven model already implemented through Mercy Hospital St. Louis, Project BEACN is designed to meet the needs of individuals whose complex behavioral, medical and social challenges may be better served through nontraditional care models. Project BEACN brings together the Behavioral Health Network of Greater St. Louis, Mercy Hospital St. Louis, Places for People (a certified community behavioral health organization, or CCBHO) and other community partners to create a local, coordinated approach to complex care.
What sets this initiative apart is its emphasis on early identification, intensive engagement and deep coordination across systems. Through cross-system data sharing and collaboration, Project BEACN identifies individuals at high risk, including those with repeated ER visits and inpatient stays driven by unmet behavioral health needs, chronic conditions and housing instability. Rather than waiting for crises to occur, care teams are alerted in real time when participants are at emergency departments — allowing for swift, coordinated engagement at critical moments.
This local collaboration also intentionally integrates essential supports including street outreach, housing navigation and in-home visits. Rather than treating complexity through disconnected services, the program responds with coordination — linking organizations, aligning incentives and investing upstream to address root causes of frequent emergency department visits and inpatient stays. This approach ensures that medical, behavioral and social needs are addressed together rather than in isolation.
Advancing care through partnership
Project BEACN illustrates the critical role managed care can play as both a connector and catalyst within complex care delivery. By bringing the Behavioral Health Network of Greater St. Louis, Mercy Hospital St. Louis, Places for People and other community partners together around shared goals, Project BEACN helps align systems into a coordinated, outcome-focused approach.
Our $90,000 investment will help support access to care, improve health outcomes for members with complex care needs, and strengthen community-based solutions through partnership. By investing in infrastructure, data sharing and cross-sector collaboration, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Missouri demonstrates how managed care can help transform complex care delivery, creating a more effective, compassionate and sustainable system for the communities it serves.
To learn more about how we are supporting communities across the state, visit our Missouri profile page.
Enjoy this article? Get future Community & State insight delivered right to your inbox.
