Briefly Noted

At last week's annual conference of the National Association for Behavioral Healthcare (NABH), the increase in managed care figured prominently as causing a significant barrier to access to treatment. “The issue that is front and center is access to care, the problems that people are having getting necessary care, and not being able to access the right care at the right time,” NABH President and CEO Mark Covall told ADAW. In addition, the continuum of care has been severely impacted by managed care, he said. “Managed care companies are restricting care to crisis care only,” he said. This means that the longer‐term care needed for recovery when patients emerge from a crisis is not being covered. There are no clear legislative or regulatory fixes yet, said Covall, speaking by phone from the busy meeting. As an organization, NABH “will continue to be proactive and reach out to managed care companies,” he said. “We hope the collaboration that is desperately needed will be a two‐way street.” NABH members have reported that “it has been exceedingly difficult to get patients the care they need, and our members are saying that it's hurting patients, and this is not acceptable.” Last week, NABH launched Access to Care, an initiative “that will send our message to policymakers, regulators, payers and patient advocates that only true access to care can lead to recovery.”