Unmet behavioral health needs are pushing the health care system to a breaking point. In response, investors have funneled unprecedented funding into digital apps and startups that promise to increase access to care.

But not only is this approach insufficient for meeting the full range of demand, it also runs the risk of exacerbating inequities by serving primarily well off, low-acuity, and disproportionately white patients. And it doesn't address the structural drivers of dysfunction in the behavioral health care system. Without a radical shift in the approach of health care leaders, we risk backsliding on our progress toward our behavioral health and health equity goals—with negative business implications across sectors.

Read on for tangible steps leaders must take to meaningfully and equitably restructure the behavioral health care system—including independent action and partnership across the industry.