Mental Health Policy Issues: Webinars Whitepapers

Lots of college students do not seek treatment for their eating disorder, nor do they believe they’ve developed a real poser.

We sometimes don’t eat, forget to eat, or eat junk when we’re stressed or have a ‘over full’ schedule.

We all have days where our selfimage ain’t the best. We look in the mirror and sigh since all we see are our flaws. Though lots of us are aware that there are signs you can watch for in yourself and your friends to determine an eating disorder, you must remember that few and random occurrences of every do not mean someone is at risk. It got a great bit done on behavioral health, including passage of the Excellence in Mental Health Act and funding for mental health ‘first aid’ training, the last Congress was criticized for lack of action.

Behavioral Healthcare asked policy thought leaders to talk about which problems they believe may be top priorities in 2015.

Those are just first steps, and they require hundreds of followup work.

As the Affordable Care Act implementation continues to roll out, likewise behavioral health executives will monitor how it impacts their practices. On top of this, with a comment period before the final rule is published later in the year, providers must watch for the proposed rules to be published by CMS early in 2015. Seriously. In 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also is expected to release new guidelines regarding parity in the Medicaid managed care market. As a result, the top policy issue that will unfold in 2015, observers say, involves parity enforcement now that the rules are on the books. I’m sure you heard about this. All eyes might be on state insurance commissioners as they monitor compliance among health plans, final regulations of the Federal Mental Health Parity and Addictions Equity Act went into effect in January. Then the CMS guidance as to how the federal parity law applies to Medicaid managed care may be crucial for treatment centers that serve the population, especially in states with Medicaid expansion, Ingoglia says.

One key policy move this year was set up by the April 2014 the Excellence passage in Mental Health Act.

The act permits pilots to begin this year in eight states that should be replicated nationwide after the ‘twoyear’ pilot phase.

It creates criteria for certified community behavioral health clinicsas entities designed to serve individuals with serious mental illnesses and substance use disorders to ensure a range of services is available. Federal officials with SAMHSA and CMS have spent time with state insurance commissioners making an attempt to answer their questions and provide technical assistance. Generally, while adding that there will likely be more class action lawsuits against insurers that struggle to meet requirements, the Parity Implementation Coalition and the Coalition for Whole Health also have parity on the radar, he says. Normally, ingoglia says the act is important for a couple of reasons, including the fact that it promises to create standards at federal and state levels about what care type might be available to people with serious mental illnesses.