Company file

Who owns Carelon Behavioral Health?

The largest managed behavioral health organization in the country, managing mental-health benefits for tens of millions of people on behalf of health plans and state Medicaid programs, including performing utilization management and medical-necessity review of psychotherapy.

Ownership

Wholly owned by Elevance Health (formerly Anthem). Anthem announced the acquisition of Beacon Health Options, then the largest privately held behavioral health organization with about 36 million members, in June 2019 and closed it March 2, 2020; the company was rebranded Carelon Behavioral Health in 2023.

Insurer ties

It is the insurer's own review arm: Elevance operates Anthem health plans, and the same parent owns the entity that decides medical necessity for behavioral care, care-delivery assets (Carelon Health), and a pharmacy benefit manager (CarelonRx).

Timeline

• March 2020Anthem completes the acquisition of Beacon Health Options, the largest privately held behavioral health organization. verified source
• January 2023Beacon is rebranded Carelon Behavioral Health as Elevance consolidates its services businesses under the Carelon name. verified source
• June 2024Carelon's provider handbook documents that it performs utilization management and medical-necessity determinations for health plans, including Anthem affiliates, while its parent also owns care delivery. verified source

Items marked verified cite primary or press sources. Items marked community-reported summarize public clinician accounts and are presented as reports, with links; they are claims, and corrections are welcome through the submission form.