[NYAPRS Enews] MHW: Annual Summit Calls For Health Care Reform To Be Part Of National Debate

[Harvey Rosenthal]

Annual Summit Calls For Health Care Reform To Be Part Of National Debate

Mental Health Weekly   March 14, 2008

 

The American College of Mental Health Administration (ACMHA) last week
convened its annual Santa Fe Summit with 186 behavioral health leaders,
advocates and consumers engaging in discussions about moving the mental
health and substance use care agenda forward into the national health
care reform debate.

 

As the presidential campaign swings into high gear, summit attendees set
their sights on building awareness of the candidates' positions on
health reform and behavioral health perspectives. This year's conference
theme was titled 'Impacting Healthcare Reform 08: Leadership in Moving
the Mental Health and Substance Use Agenda.'

 

Prior to the event, organizers of the Santa Fe Summit sent attendees a
summary of the 2008 presidential candidates health reform proposals and
mental health/substance use perspectives. They also received materials
outlining key objectives and insurance strategies of state health care
reform efforts to further explore and understand various coverage
strategies and to engage in additional dialogue, planning and action
around appropriate coverage of mental health and substance use treatment
services.

(NYAPRS Note: let me know if you'd like me to forward you copies of
these materials).

 

During the opening session, Ronald Manderscheid director of Mental
Health and Substance Use Programs, at the Constella Group, LLC, and
moderator of the summit, outlined three phases of the summit: increasing
awareness, strategic planning and commitment to action as they
facilitate discussions throughout the summit to consider whether the
presidential candidates have adopted the three principles embraced by
the Whole Health Campaign (see below).

 

Manderscheid charged attendees with thinking about the health care
reform proposals outlined by the presidential candidates' positions. He
also asked them to consider whether their position addresses the three
principles embraced by the Whole Health Campaign, a coalition of more
than 40 organizations in the mental health and addiction communities
working together to ensure

that behavioral health issues become an integral part of the health care
reform discussion in the presidential race (see MHW, Jan. 14).

 

Whole Health Campaign

William Emmet, director of the Campaign for Mental Health Reform and one
of the leading organizers of the Whole Health Campaign, told attendees
that the principles born out of the President New Freedom Commission and
reborn out of the national health care debate are beginning to take
shape. "Both elements are at play as health care reform continues to be
debated," said Emmet.

 

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) addressed summit attendees via satellite.
Bringing the issues of mental health and substance abuse is

very important and a "tipping point" in the national health care debate,
Kennedy told summit attendees.

 

"You can't talk about health care unless we talk about preventive care
and about the whole person - emotional, spiritual and physical" in order
to treat mental health care in this country, he said.

 

Kennedy's comments to summit attendees were taped one day following the
historic mental health parity vote (see MHW, March 10).

"We're excited about this victory," said Kennedy. "We must keep this
momentum going forward. We've got to keep the parity bill rolling."

 

It's important that the substance abuse and mental health field work
together to develop a comprehensive strategy to meet the holistic needs
of mental health, substance abuse and physical health, he said. "I want
to commend you for that effort," he told attendees.

 

Kennedy added, "This is an exciting time for our field. You save lives
every day. You helped save my life. Without your dedication people might
not be able to live full and productive lives."

 

Linda Rosenberg, president and chief executive of the National Council
for Community Behavioral Healthcare, told attendees that the

field has come a long way. "Treatments are effective, and the quality of
life has improved for many. However, many remain dependent on public
financed services, such as Medicaid," she said.

 

Up to two-thirds of homeless adults are chronic alcoholics, drug
addicted or a combination of both, she said. Insurance premiums have
doubled since 2000, she added.

 

"We don't have a health care budget in this country; it's a market
driven, open system," said Rosenberg. While managed care has kept

costs down, "practitioners and consumers hated it and lived with it,"
she said. "Expenditures vary from region to region with no difference in
outcomes. If the entire nation cut costs to match lower spending,
regions could save 20 to 30 percent."

 

People who are on public assistance go untreated, she noted, and do not
receive any of the supports and services they need to

become productive members of society. Members of the National Council
are businesses, said Rosenberg. They do not receive

funding for research and development, she said. "There's no uniform
standard of care in this nation," Rosenberg said.

 

Rosenberg cited the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, AT&T, the American Medical
Association and the American Hospital Association

as among the largest spenders in this country. "Where do we fall; we're
not in this group," she said. "We're a country where money is

power, money talks. We have lots of challenges and opportunities." 

 

Supporting Recovery

Tom Coderre, national field director of Faces & Voices of Recovery,
recounted his own personal battles with alcohol and drugs and discussed
how psychiatric services, detoxification and other supports and services
aided in his recovery. 

 

"Long-term recovery is about so much more than not using alcohol and
drugs," Coderre told attendees. "It's about creating a better

life." The supports he received happened over time, but he got the help
he needed, Coderre noted. Faces and Voices of Recovery,

he said, is changing the public's perception of addition recovery and
demonstrating that recovery is working for millions of Americans.

 

The organization has been following presidential candidates at various
venues, including presidential town hall meetings and launching voter
registration drives and sponsoring candidate forums. "We have to become
a constituency of consequence," said Coderre. "In order to do that, we
have to hold candidates accountable."

 

Transforming The System

Terry L. Cline, Ph.D., administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), gave the keynote

speech during the luncheon on Thursday. "The health care system is on an
unsustainable trajectory," said Cline. "The system does not just need to
be changed; it needs to be radically transformed."

 

Cline said the field needs "to move upstream" and serve individuals at
the front end of their illness, rather than wait until a consumer is in
the throes of an acute illness. "When we move upstream, it forces our
attention to younger people in our country as well," he said.

 

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) reports that one in
10 adolescents between 12 and 17 will experience a major

depressive disorder, said Cline. "Those individuals are twice as likely
to use drugs as their nondepressed peers," he said. "We

clearly need to move upstream."

 

Cline said it's important to ensure that issues and concerns in the
behavioral health field are well represented in the national debate.

He said he is optimistic about the field's ability to influence change.

 

Special Populations

The Santa Fe Summit hosted a strategy and implementation work group
session to maximize mental health and substance use presence and effect
in the state universal coverage initiative debate. Participants in the
work group discussed their own experiences and their work with special
populations, which included children, veterans, substance use, and
individuals in public systems, and providers.

 

Herminio Maldonado, peer advocate at the Bronx Peer Advocacy Center in
New York, said it is difficult to watch veterans of all ages having
difficulty finding employment, and experiencing drug use and
homelessness. "Something's wrong with this picture," he said.
"Something's not right. They come to us for services and it's not a good
picture."

 

Harvey Rosenthal, executive director of the New York Association of
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS), cited the importance of
supported recovery efforts, including affordable housing, employment and
transportation for consumers with psychiatric disabilities.

 

NYAPRS members learned about the political power of their community, he
said. "We don't have money, but we have votes and voices," Rosenthal
told attendees. "We (in New York) have used this power. We're
(nationally) a sleeping giant in so many ways. It's important to get
peers at the table and (position them to) weave their way through
discussions on health care reform," he noted. 

 

"Peers need to be at every table, and we need to look for flexible
funding streams that are individualized and self-directed," he said.

 

Glenda Barrett of the Oklahoma Mental Health Consumer Council Oklahoma
said that Oklahoma was one of the first states to train peer support
specialists in mental health and substance use. "We have an array of
advocates out there," she noted. She added that Mental Health Day was
being celebrated at the state capital on March 13.

 

Barrett said that by the end of the summit she would like to develop
some action steps in order to move forward. "When we start

working together, we do make a difference," she said.

 

Developing a Strategy

ACMHA's mission over the course of the three-day summit is to develop,
through a series of strategic work groups facilitated by

behavioral health providers and consumers, a strategy to highlight
mental health and substance use care in healthcare reform with an

emphasis on specific populations such as veterans and children.

 

Other speakers scheduled include former Secretary Tommy G. Thompson,
independent chairman of the Deloitte Center for Health

Solutions and A. Kathryn Power, M.Ed., director of the Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Services Agency (SAMHSA) Center for

Mental Health Services. 

 

"We are excited to have such distinguished leaders participating in this
year's summit," said Eric Goplerud, Ph.D., president of ACMHA and
professor in George Washington University's Department of Health Policy.
Added Goplerud, "They will set the stage for the important work of the
summit - developing concrete strategies for moving the behavioral health
agenda at the local, state and national levels.

------------

Whole Health Campaign Outlines Key Principles For Candidates

The Whole Health Campaign, in its mission to ensure the health care
debate includes both mind and body, have called on the presidential
candidates to embrace the following three principles:

* Ensure equitable and adequate mental health and addiction treatment
coverage in all public and private health care plans.

* Support policies that promote both individual and family recovery from
mental illnesses and addictions as integral to overall health.

* Commit to investing in America's future through prevention, early
intervention, and research on mental illnesses and addictions.

 

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