American reduced life expectancy reported in the Tennessean newspaper

For the second consecutive year, the National Center for Health Statistics has reported a reduction in life expectancy for Americans largely due to overdoses and suicides.

Mental Health reported in the Tennessean- by Lauren Conaboy

This chilling trend impacts our families, communities and the economy. Seventy percent of employers reported their businesses were affected by prescription drug misuse in a 2017 National Safety Council survey.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates prescription opioid misuse costs $78.5 billion annually.

In Tennessee, approximately five people die each day due to drug overdose and three more die by suicide.

Despite growing national attention toward mental health and addiction treatment, access to care is still a challenge.

Securing help for a loved one struggling with mental illness or addiction can sometimes be a complex process — or next to impossible when care is unavailable in certain areas. Our nation and elected leaders have the responsibility and, more importantly, the capability to correct that issue.

With new policies for 2019 on the horizon, here are three ways elected leaders, regulators and stakeholders can help transform health costs while improving quality and access to life-saving mental health and addiction treatment.

1. Include Behavioral Health in Insurance Coverage

We must emphasize the importance of access to behavioral health services within our current commercial and public insurance plans. Lawmakers often reduce consumer access to insurance in an effort to lower health care spending.

However, that doesn’t solve the root problem or save money in the long run. When consumers don’t have access to mental health and addiction treatment services, their conditions tend to worsen, and they’re more likely to require expensive forms of care to get back on track.

Physical and mental health go hand-in-hand. 

If an individual has diabetes and severe depression, treating their diabetes without addressing their depression will not get this person better. That’s why public and commercial health plans should continue to safeguard the essential health benefits to ensure individuals have access to the support they need, when they need it most.

2. Provide Patients with Reimbursement for Access to Timely Care

The costliest form of health care is health care that doesn’t work. Individuals in deep depression or on the brink of relapse need help today, not in a month. Long wait times are an unfortunate reality.

We must embrace technology while breaking down regulatory barriers that limit access to timely care, whether in-person or via telehealth.

To that end, lawmakers and regulators should continue to advance provisions that expand telehealth, while also accelerating incentives for providers and insurance companies to have real-time, interworking electronic health records and claims data. 

Modernizing the way we deliver care is key to saving lives and curbing health care spending.

3. Implement Research-Based Treatments

To truly change the way health care is delivered in our nation, we must identify and implement effective standardized treatments for addiction and mental health that are supported by research.

Establishing standards of care increases quality, improves the patient’s experience and transforms lives.

There’s tremendous opportunity to improve our health care system, positively impact the economy and, most importantly, ensure those in need of mental health and addiction treatment have access to the best care at the right time.

Author Lauren Conaboy is vice president of national policy at Centerstone.

PS- from Maine Writer:  Does Senator Elect Marsha Blackburn know about this?