Milliman Report Highlights Barriers to Accessing Behavioral Healthcare Services

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A report from Milliman, Inc. about disparities between physical and behavioral healthcare for both in-network access and provider reimbursement rates underscores NABH's position that unnecessary barriers continue to deny access to behavioral healthcare for patients who need it.

The Bowman Family Foundation commissioned Milliman to produce Addiction and Mental Health vs. Physical Health: Widening disparities in network use and provider reimbursement, a 140-page report that shows the gap in disparities for employees and their families seeking mental health and addiction treatment versus treatment for physical health conditions widened in 2016 and 2017.

According to the report, inpatient out-of-network use for behavioral health was over five times more likely than for medical/surgical services, worsening from 2.8 times more likely in 2013 to 5.2 times more likely in 2017, reflecting an 85% increase in disparities over five years. Meanwhile, office visit disparities were already five times higher in 2013 and worsened to 5.4 times in 2017, the report said.

"Milliman's findings emphasize what our members have been telling us for years: unfair managed care practices too often create barriers for patients to access the care they need," said Mark Covall, president and CEO of NABH. "This is a major reason why earlier this year we launched Access to Care, an initiative to inform policymakers, the media, patient advocates, and the general public about two major challenges—unjust managed care practices and countless regulations—that prevent behavioral healthcare providers from providing a full range of services to patients."

Please visit NABH's Access to Care page to watch our video and learn more.

About NABH

The National Association for Behavioral Healthcare (NABH) advocates for behavioral healthcare and represents provider systems that treat children, adolescents, adults, and older adults with mental health and substance use disorders in more than 1,800 inpatient behavioral healthcare hospitals and units, residential treatment facilities, partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs, medication assisted treatment centers, specialty behavioral healthcare programs, and recovery support services. The association was founded in 1933.

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SOURCE National Association for Behavioral Healthcare