February 5th, 2020
By Janine Weisman
Health insurers are failing to comply with mental health parity laws for Americans with employer-sponsored health coverage and their families, according to a recent report. As a result, there are increasing disparities in access to behavioral health services for employees and their dependents who end up having to seek care from out-of-network providers at higher out-of-pocket costs. The report “Addiction and Mental Health vs. Physical Health: Widening disparities in network use and provider reimbursement” outlines problems with access to affordable in-network care for mental illness and substance use disorders. The report by the independent actuarial and research institution consulting firm [More]
Tags: behavioral health, mental health care, health coverage, higher out of pocket costs, out of network providers, Mental Health Treatment and Research Institute
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July 5th, 2019
By Margarita Tartakovsky, MS
In May, the Rhode Island Foundation awarded $2.6 million in grants to six non-profit organizations to fund behavioral health care services in the state. According to Jenny Pereira, vice president of the grant program at the R.I. Foundation, behavioral health is a high priority. In August 2018, the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner created the Behavioral Health Fund with funding from Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island. The latter has committed to providing $5 million in funding. Overall, their focus is on preventing behavioral health problems before they arise, and identifying conditions or concerns in their earliest [More]
Tags: mental health issues, mental illness, behavioral health, Rhode Island Foundation, grants, non-profit organizations, alcohol use, post-traumatic stress
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May 13th, 2019
By Eileen Weber
North Shore Medical Center received approval from Massachusetts state regulators to increase its number of psychiatric beds. Plans for what will be called the Epstein Center for Behavioral Health include a total of 120 adult, geriatric, and pediatric beds. The facility is slated to open this fall. The expansion project had a few glitches after the hospital and its parent company, Partners Healthcare, scaled back the plans in 2016 because of financial losses. Now back on track, the expansion is an attempt to tackle what is a nationwide issue—having enough psychiatric care available so that patients don’t end up in [More]
Tags: Massachusetts, psychiatric care, behavioral health, hospitals, psychiatric beds, North Shore Medical Center, health care
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May 12th, 2019
By Catherine Robertson Souter
In the country’s convoluted health care system, forging a path towards recovery can be frustrating at best and a setup for failure at worst. A patchwork system, grown organically over the years as need arises or funding is available, US health care encompasses a wide variety of services, both public and private, for and not-for-profit. It can be overwhelming for individuals trying to navigate and find help for themselves or loved ones, especially for mental health services. With its whole person approach, Walden Behavioral Care, a Waltham, Massachusetts-based mental health care system that specializes in treating eating disorders, looks to [More]
Tags: interview, treatment, behavioral health, psychiatric hospital, Q&A, mental health care, Walden Behavioral Care, eating disorders
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March 11th, 2019
By Susan Gonsalves
Data from the 2018 Massachusetts Health Reform Survey showed that 56.8 percent of adults ages 19 to 64 who sought help for mental health or substance abuse disorders experienced difficulties obtaining care. The problems included finding a provider who would see them at all or getting an appointment in a timely manner when it was needed. As a result, more than one-third of those adults went without help and 12.7 percent visited an emergency department to address those issues. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation and Urban Institute collected the information using data from a random telephone survey involving 2,201 [More]
Tags: psychologists, Mental health, Massachusetts, behavioral health, survey, substance abuse, healthcare
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November 9th, 2018
By Janine Weisman
Blue Cross Blue Shield Rhode Island stopped requiring prior approval for in-network mental health or substance use disorder services on Aug. 1, a move the state’s largest health insurer said was part of a larger focus on improving access to care. Out-of-network services will still be subject to what’s known as utilization review for behavioral health services. But left out of the BCBSRI news release when this policy change was initially announced last May was the fact that the discontinuation of the process known as utilization review came about during discussions with state regulators. That’s after examiners from the Rhode [More]
Tags: prescription drugs, behavioral health, Blue Cross Blue Shield Rhode Island, BCBSRI, prior authorization, state regulators, substance use disorder services, Out-of-network services, deficiencies, reviews of coverage
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May 14th, 2018
By Phyllis Hanlon
The psychiatric care landscape has shifted in recent years from an inpatient setting to community placement and back to in-hospital treatment. New England Psychologist surveyed the New England states to assess the current inpatient situation. Kathleen Remillard, public information officer (PIO) at New Hampshire’s Department of Health and Human Services, reported that the state has had no psychiatric unit closures in the past year. Rather, New Hampshire has gained 20 new transitional housing beds for patients recently released from New Hampshire Hospital or other designated receiving facilities. Vermont has also added 20 youth psychiatric beds; and four mobile crisis apartments [More]
Tags: New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, psychiatric care, increase in beds, increase in facilities, opioid crisis, behavioral health, Connecticut, psychiatric unit
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