Mental Health Parity Legislation
Mental health advocates in Congress recently introduced legislation to bring parity to insurance coverage for the treatment of mental illness. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) and Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.) introduced the “Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007” (H.R. 1424) last month, and at press time more than 254 House members had cosponsored the legislation. If passed, the bill would require insurance plans that offer coverage for mental health and addiction disorders to offer the same coverage limits and terms for those services as for other medical care. The requirements would apply to all group health plans with 50 or more employees. However, the bill would not mandate that group health plans provide mental health coverage. A slightly different mental health parity bill (S. 558) was introduced in February by Sen. Pete Dominici (R-N.M.) and has been passed out of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
CMS Extends Form Deadline
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has extended the deadline for filing Medicare claims using its new version of claims form CMS-1500, because of formatting errors on the revised form, CMS announced. The original deadline for switching to the new form–known as CMS-1500 (08/05)–originally was April 2. But CMS said last month that contractors have been directed to continue to accept the old form until the agency notifies them to stop. Additionally, the agency advised physicians who must use the form to use legacy provider numbers, as the form cannot accommodate a National Provider Identifier (NPI) number.
Mental Health Court Cut Costs
Mental health courts, which emphasize treatment rather than jail time, could save taxpayers some money if the experience of one Pennsylvania court is any indication. An analysis by the Rand Corp. found that participants in Allegheny County's mental health court program spent fewer days in jail and received more mental health treatment than they would have if they had been sentenced in a traditional criminal court. They also spent fewer days in jail compared with a past arrest. In the first year of the study, the cost of increased mental health services was mostly offset by the decrease in jail time. However, among a subset of participants analyzed over a second year, the cost savings were more significant. Allegheny County's mental health court was designed to help mentally ill individuals who have committed nonviolent crimes get treatment instead of jail time. Although the study looked at only one court, the researchers noted that it is likely that their findings would be applicable to many of the other approximately 120 mental health courts around the country. The study was funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare and the Staunton Farm Foundation.
NIH Launches Addiction Study
In response to the growing problem of prescription drug abuse, officials at the National Institutes of Health are launching the Prescription Opioid Addiction Treatment Study (POATS), a multisite study to be conducted under the direction of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The researchers will examine the effectiveness of buprenorphine/naloxone (Suboxone) combined with either intensive or brief drug-counseling approaches. Investigators are planning to enroll about 648 participants at 11 sites. “Opioid analgesics were designed to help people in pain and we want to be sure that those who require them for legitimate reasons can continue to effectively manage their pain,” Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of NIDA, said in a statement. “However, we must also recognize the risk of addiction to pain medications and develop treatments for those who become addicted to them. This trial is an important first step in reaching that goal.”
FDA to Study Ads' Risk Data
Saying that it has become more concerned about how much risk information is disclosed to consumers in print ads, and that the information is not usually in a consumer-friendly format, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it will study how to better present those data. One study will look at whether giving consumers more context–instead of a list of risks, for instance–will aid their understanding of a product's potential downside. Another will look at the usefulness of several different formats for presenting the data. FDA is accepting comments on the proposed testing until mid-April.
Call to Action on Teen Drinking
In its first Call to Action against underage drinking, the U.S. Surgeon General's office appealed to Americans to do more to stop the country's 11 million current underage drinkers from using alcohol, and to prevent other young people from starting to drink. Acting Surgeon General Kenneth P. Moritsugu laid out recommendations for government and school officials, parents, other adults, and young people, saying that although the use of tobacco and illicit drugs has declined significantly, underage drinking has remained consistently high. “Research shows that young people who start drinking before the age of 15 are five times more likely to have alcohol-related problems later in life,” Dr. Moritsugu said in a statement, adding, “new research also indicates that alcohol may harm the developing adolescent brain.”