Tag Archive for 'mental health'

Psychiatric advanced directives

As some students with EBD grow older, their parents often are faced with critical decisions about ensuring that, as adults, they receive appropriate services. For individuals who may have sudden and substantial needs for psychiatric services, planning for ways to ensure that the person does get those services can be a bewildering problem. A psychiatric advanced directive may be helpful in such circumstances, and the UPenn Collaborative (a group to which I’ve referred previously on EBD Blog) has developed a guidebook and planning sheets for creating a mental health crisis plans or psychiatric advance directives.
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Parity rally!

Mental health and related organizations are soliciting participation in a rally to urge the U.S. Congress to pass the legislation that will reform insurance rules to ensure that emotional and behavioral disorders (along with other mental health issues) are covered by health insurance policies. Here’s an example from Mental Health America (formerly the National Mental Health Association and the source of the image at the right):

Millions of Americans with mental disorders do not have equal access to health insurance. Many health plans discriminate against these people by limiting mental health and substance abuse healthcare by imposing lower day and visit limits, higher co-payments and deductibles and lower annual and lifetime spending caps.

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Legislation to cheer

According to correspondent Julio C. Abreu (Senior Director for Government Affairs at Mental Health America), negotiators for the US House and Senate are near or have reached a compromise that reconciles H.R. 1424 (”No Discrimination in Health Insurance Act of 2008″) and S. 558 (”Mental Health Parity Act of 2007″). These two bills are different versions of similar legislation that will require private health insurance plans to cover mental health (and other) services, just as they cover other conditions. This is, excuse me, HUGE for families of children and youths with emotional and behavioral disorders. I hope that the mental health community, including Mental Health America, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and the Alliance for Children and Families, springs into action and endorses resolution of this long-festering problem.
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PDX RTC

RTC at PDX banner

The paper mail included a copy of Focal Point, the periodical from the Research and Training Center (RTC) on Family Support and Children’s Mental Health at Portland (OR, US) State University. As usual, it includes many worthwhile articles. It reminded me that I should reminder readers of EBD Blog about the RTC.

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