Monday, November 10, 2003

Effects of the Vermont Mental Health and Substance Abuse Parity Law
The full text of a SAMHSA report (in Adobe Acrobat format) first noted here in September - "...This evaluation sought to determine how implementation of parity in Vermont affected major stakeholders: employers, health plans, providers, and consumers. The evaluation included an implementation case study, an employer survey, and an analysis of health plan claims/encounter data. Much of the analysis focused on the experiences of two health plans—Kaiser/Community Health Plan (Kaiser/CHP) and Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Vermont (BCBSVT). These plans covered nearly 80 percent of the privately insured population at the time parity was implemented." Be patient when downloading - the full report is 117 pages.  
  

Geographic Disparities in Children’s Mental Health Care
Journal article (in Adobe Acrobat format) that originally appeared in Pediatrics and is now available through the Open Minds web site - " It is widely believed that only a minority of vulnerable children and adolescents receive any mental health services. Although health care disparities associated with socio-demographic characteristics are well known, almost no information exists about another potentially important source of disparity for children: How does state of residence affect mental health service use?"