How Could The 21st Century Cures Act And The Joint Commission Improve Eating Disorder Care?

Approximately 30 million individuals have experienced a diagnosable eating disorder at some point in their life. People with an eating disorder are more likely to have comorbid physical and psychological conditions, higher annual health care costs, and experience reduced quality of life. Moreover, eating disorders are among the deadliest of psychological conditions, with anorexia nervosa in particular having an especially high mortality rate. While the burden is significant, there has long been a lack of access to eating disorder prevention, identification, and intervention services. Parity of behavioral health care with general health care has been a long-time battle, culminating in the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) of 2008 and the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) essential health benefits mandate. However, eating disorders have often been excluded from parity enforcement through loopholes or ambiguity in rules. These exclusions are in many cases implicit, manifesting through benefit design. For example, plans might omit or limit coverage for eating disorder-specific specialties (for example, dietetics) or employ cost-restricting tactics that prevent evidence-based, and often costly, eating disorder treatment (for example, more generous access to outpatient treatment compared to residential, strict medical-necessity requirements), even if the benefit plan technically meets regulatory requirements. In December 2016, t...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Featured Following the ACA Insurance and Coverage Payment Policy Public Health 21st Century Cures Act American Health Care Act eating disorder treatment Essential Health Benefits The Joint Commission Source Type: blogs