May is Mental Health Awareness Month and each week Call to Mind will be highlighting an area of mental health focus to bring visibility and spark conversation because we think it’s #TimeToTalk about Mental Health Policy.
Read MoreInsurance companies covered telehealth before the pandemic, but the rules were complicated and strict. The provider had to be in an office and so did the patient. It had to be done over special platforms, not just a plain old telephone. Most of the insurers the center deals with have adopted recent changes for the reimbursement of telehealth services.
Read MoreSome contend the contracts harm patients and worsen the provider shortage, but hospitals say they keep the costs of health care down.
Read MoreMinneapolis and St. Paul are proposing new city ordinances that would ban gay conversion therapy, the controversial treatment designed to change people’s sexual orientation or sexual identity.
Read MoreOur nonpartisan, nationally representative survey provides new information about the American public’s opinions about gun policies and behaviors among those who own guns (or live with those who do). The survey was conducted July 16 to 21, 2019, just two weeks prior to the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, and it covered several topics. This is the third and last release from that survey; the first release covered “red flag” laws and the characteristics associated with gun ownership and the second covered respondents’ knowledge about gun-related deaths.
Read MoreAlthough suicides account for the majority of gun deaths in the United States—60% in the latest data—by and large American adults are unaware of this. In our survey, only one-fourth of Americans correctly answered that gun deaths by suicide outnumber deaths resulting from mass shootings, murders other than mass shootings, and accidental gun discharges. This is no better than guessing at random from among the four choices given.
Read MoreThis survey finds widespread support among American adults for “red flag” laws, also known as Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs), which allow a family member or the police to seek a court order to temporarily take away guns if they feel a gun owner may harm themselves or others. More than three-fourths of American adults support family-initiated ERPOs, the majority of whom say they “strongly” support such measures. Similarly, 70 percent support police-initiated ERPOs.
Read MoreUnitedHealth Group is rejecting some demands of the plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit accusing the company of being too stingy in its coverage of mental health care.
Read MoreIn February, a federal judge in California ruled the Minnetonka-based health insurer denied claims for behavioral health care based on overly restrictive guidelines that put profit over patients. Now, in a proposed remedy, the plaintiffs' attorneys want UnitedHealth to adopt new guidelines and take another look.
Read More50,000 are people challenging UnitedHealth's standards for behavioral care. U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero recently ripped the Twin Cities-based insurer for placing an "excessive emphasis" on paying for treatments during a crisis while ignoring "effective treatment of ... underlying conditions."
Read MoreMental health care in schools, mental health grants for children and adults, and eliminating the use of solitary confinement for people with mental illness are among the bills mental health advocates are pushing in the Legislature this session.
Read MoreIn what could prove to be a landmark case, a federal judge in Northern California ruled this week that a subsidiary of Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group violated its responsibilities to patients with mental health and substance use disorder needs.
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