:: Mental Health Parity

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act 2008, mandates that health plans and self-insured employers offer the same level of coverage for mental health and substance abuse disorder benefits as they provide for medical and surgical benefits. This new law will become effective in October 2009.

This new legislation means that health plans operating in most states will face a complex overlap of state and federal mental health parity laws, presenting significant confusion around how to effectively prepare to comply. Plus, with projected increases in behavioral health care costs estimated to reach $2M per 100K covered lives, MHP compliance means that health plans will need to look for creative ways to mitigate the costs before it hits their bottom line.

Synthesis Mental Health Parity Planning™

Synthesis Mental Health Parity Planning is designed to help health plans meet the rapidly approaching deadlines for complying with Federal Mental Health Parity. This consultative engagement will outline the specific state and federal requirements your health plan will need to meet in order to comply with the Mental Health Parity & Addiction Equity Act 2008. Further, it will identify opportunities to save money and achieve greater behavioral and medical health integration while meeting the increased cost and regulatory demands of this new legislation.

For example, by carving-in behavioral health management, health plans can save $400K in administrative costs per 100K covered lives. Our team of experts can show you how.

Synthesis Mental Health Parity Planning starts with a two-day on-site consultation with senior Health Integrated behavioral health staff. The goal of these sessions is to explore your health plan’s behavioral health benefits structure and compliance levels with existing state mental health parity laws. Our team will execute an in-depth, 10-point evaluation of your current behavioral health management approaches.

Coming out of the on-site sessions, we’ll deliver a comprehensive findings report on the impact of Federal Mental Health Parity to your plan. This will provide you with an interpretation the state and federal parity laws that affect your health plan as well as recommended behavioral health benefits modifications in order to meet regulatory compliance.

You will also receive a summary of your the health plan’s opportunities for mitigating costs related to Mental Health Parity compliance, including proposed changes to your existing behavioral health management approaches and a go-forward strategy for achieving the needed modifications in a timely manner.

To get started with Synthesis Mental Health Parity Planning, please contact us at marketing@healthintegrated.com or 1.800.323.0286.