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Important Reading: |
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We are an organization of mental health professionals
and consumers who have as our core principles access,
quality, privacy and choice in mental health and
substance abuse treatment. Although we support the full
range of mental health and substance abuse treatments
that can be shown to benefit patients and consumers, we
have increasingly focused on the modality of treatment,
psychotherapy, that we believe is most under threat from
insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry,
managed care and the healthcare lobby in general. Many
aspects of recent federal legislation that appear to
have a valuable purpose either do not address the core
principles of the NCMHPC or actually tend to subvert
those principles. |
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One general example may help
clarify concerns parity legislation. Our organization
certainly believes that mental health and substance
abuse care are important and should be considered as
important as physical healthcare. At the same time, we
are quite concerned that parity legislation frequently
contains provisions that actually increase the intrusion
into patients’ privacy or establish a lowest common
denominator for care. Another example has been
legislation calling for increased mental healthcare on
college campuses and in high schools. These efforts can
sound laudable, yet come at a price of patient right to
privacy and choice. Many times the screening
instruments touted to identify emotional problems are
developed by drug companies with the covert, if not
explicit, message that mental health problems are the
result of biological abnormalities to be treated with
medication. |
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The
NCMHPC has endorsed and will continue to endorse
legislation that promotes mental health and substance
abuse care. Although the NCMHPC does not endorse any
specific method of delivery of care or paying for care,
for example, we have endorsed legislation that provides
for government expenditures for care. We will continue
to support mental health legislation when the provisions
do not undermine choice, quality, access, and privacy.
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William A. MacGillivray, PhD, ABPP
President, National Coalition of Mental Health
Professionals and Consumers
7 Forest Court, Knoxville, TN 37919 |
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Click to
Join or Renew your
National Coalition
Membership
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AMHA-USA offers a unique, multidisciplinary approach
to the practice of mental health care.
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AMHA-USA supports local collaborative marketing &
national presence for member clinicians.
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JOIN
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Keep Reading:
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The Herndon Alliance offers articles,
summaries, weekly bulletins on health care. |
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American Assn. of Physicians and
Surgeons, News of the Day |
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Rumor Alert: |
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Too often
practitioners learn of coming changes only by chance.
Anthem – CA Blue Cross may be planning, as
of Jan 2010, to manage all out patient mental health
services. The word is they will only authorize 12
sessions to any provider (in or out of network), after
which, providers will have to submit treatment plans.
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Notice: |
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Many of
the links in this e-zine are to newspaper articles.
These links often expire. If they have
expired, you most likely will still find them at the
internet archive. Copy the expired link and
then click
here
and paste the expired link in the box next to the
button that says Take Me Back. Then click the
button and you will most likely find the article.
If it is not there chances are you are out of luck.
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If you agree with
everything in this e-zine you have not read it closely enough
Mental
