Archive for the ‘Public Policy’ Category

BHN Fall 2018 Issue

"System Transformation: Challenges and Opportunities”   Articles in This...

Depression, Suicide, Discrimination and Parity

In the immediate aftermath of the suicides of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain Gov. Cuomo issued a press release about new funding to address the rising rate of suicide. He stated: “Two high-profile suicides this week put mental illness front and center, but while those names were the ones in...

Coordinated Behavioral Care Wins Prestigious Heritage Healthcare Organizational Leadership Award

Coordinated Behavioral Care (CBC) has won the prestigious Heritage Healthcare Organizational Leadership Award at the 3rd Annual Heritage Healthcare Innovation Awards sponsored by Heritage Provider Network and Crain’s New York Business. CBC was among an incredible group of honorees for this award,...

We Need to Do More Than Just Talk About Mental Illness

Reprinted from The Hill There was a time when no one talked about mental illness. But, today, every tragic shooting is accompanied by calls for greater access to mental health treatment. The wheels of legislation turn slowly, but mental illness is a public health crisis that requires immediate...

Legalization of Drugs: The Ultimate Harm Reduction Measure

Illegal drugs are dangerous, but many of their dangers are caused by their illegality rather than the drugs themselves. Yes, the use of illegal (and some legal) drugs results in addiction. But if we really want to reduce the dangers of drug abuse, we must address its illegality as well as the...

Project Access: An Investigation of Access to Quality Mental Health and Addictions Care

Did you know that health insurers are mandated by government to offer panels of providers so that families can find easily accessible care for their loved ones—and not only for physical illnesses? This requirement is known as network adequacy, referring to adequate networks of care. However,...

Why Integrated Care for Co-Occurring Disorders Is So Important

Providing integrated treatment for people with co-occurring behavioral and physical health disorders has become a central goal of mental health policy reform. Why? In part the answer is that the failure to provide effective integrated care drives up the cost of care. But the answer also is that...

A Human Right Still Unmet: Medical Treatment of Mentally Ill Prisoners

Individuals with mental illness have the right to receive appropriate medical treatment in correctional settings and upon release. It sounds perfectly reasonable, but unfortunately, is far from reality. That was the consensus of a distinguished panel of mental health and legal experts who recently...

Address Comorbidities with Tech-Supported Approaches to Integrated Care

Consider this common scenario: Trying to assess a high-need patient with diabetes, a care coordinator with access only to the patient’s physical health record is unaware of her history of depression. Conversely, a behavioral care coordinator reviewing her depression charts, may be unable to...

A Good Place to Live Is Critical for Older Adults with Psychiatric Disabilities: Needed Public Policy Changes

Not so many years ago a diagnosis of schizophrenia was a life sentence, shortened only by the low life expectancy of people with serious and persistent mental illness. Thanks to the recovery movement, we now understand that a diagnosis of schizophrenia or other serious psychotic disorder does not...