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The Mental Health
Parity and Addictions Equity Act: What Are the Research
Implications for Employers and EAPs?
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here to order the CD recording. . .
The Paul
Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction
Equity Act of 2008 is a federal law requiring employers that
offer mental health/addiction coverage to do so on the same
terms and conditions as their offering of medical/surgical
health care benefits. This presentation will help employee
assistance providers understand how this new mental health and
substance use disorder parity law affects employers and their
own programs.
Parity Law Requirements.
Under this
new law, benefit plans must ensure that financial requirements
and treatment limitations applicable to mental health/substance
use disorder benefits are no more restrictive than those
requirements and limitations placed on medical/surgical
benefits. This means that deductibles, copayments, coinsurance,
out-of-pocket expenses, frequency of treatment, number of
visits, days of inpatient coverage and other cost-sharing
mechanisms must be no more restrictive for mental health and/or
substance use disorder benefits than they are for
medical/surgical benefits. The new law picks up where the 1996
law on mental health parity left off, and now also covers
substance use disorders.
Business Implications.
Mental health and substance abuse disorders are commonly
experienced in working populations, but are typically
under-diagnosed and under-treated. Research has shown that
improved access to quality mental health treatment leads to
better health outcomes. These better health outcomes, in turn,
are linked to increased work productivity, decreased absenteeism
and other positive workplace outcomes. The presenters will
review this research and describe how the new parity law can
help employers realize significant direct and indirect
cost-savings by supporting appropriate use of behavioral health
services.
Employer Case Studies.
Many
employers have already had positive experiences with mental
health and substance abuse parity and enhanced use of their EAPs.
The presenters will describe case studies at DuPont, JPMorgan
Chase & Co., and Pitney Bowes, and discuss how EAPs can
implement similar strategies in their organizations.
Cost Impact of the Parity Law.
With
employers facing a troubled economy, the changes brought about
by the parity law bring concern over the potential for increased
costs resulting from the law’s new requirements. The presenters
will describe research that indicates these changes should not
result in cost increases beyond a small amount and that any
increases experienced in treatment costs should be more than
offset by net gains in reductions in overall health and
disability costs, as well as improved worker productivity.
Learn Answers to these Questions:
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What are
the requirements of the new mental health and substance
abuse parity act?
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Why is the
new law needed?
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How will
the new parity act affect employers and EAPs?
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What are
the anticipated costs of the new law?
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How can
employers and EAPs take advantage of the opportunities
presented by the new law?
Bonus Research Brief. Audio conference participants will receive a research
brief summarizing the new parity act and the research discussed
during the session. In addition, this presentation will include
an interactive session during which audience members can
interact with the speakers and one another on the topic of the
audio conference.
Click
here to order the CD recording. . .
Featured Presenters:
 Mark
Attridge, M.A., Ph.D.
President
Attridge Consulting, Inc.
Dr. Mark Attridge is President of Attridge Consulting, Inc., a
consulting firm that specializes in business writing, including
research briefs, white papers, and publications; designing
outcome research studies for workplace health services; and
development of ROI analysis tools. He has a Ph.D. in psychology
from the University of Minnesota and a Masters degree in
communication from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He
has authored more than 100 articles and conference papers on
topics in healthcare, psychology, and communication. He is also
co-editor of a research-based book on the integration of
employee assistance, work/life, and wellness programs.
Previous to his current position, Dr. Attridge was Director of
the National Data Cooperative (NDC) for the U.S. Group and
Health Care Practice of Watson Wyatt Worldwide. Prior to that
position, he was a Principal at Optum/United Health Group, where
he managed an internal research department and directed a
variety of applied research projects involving healthcare
claims, operational data, and surveys.
Dr. Attridge is an editorial board member of the Journal of
Workplace Behavioral Health. He is also the past Chair of the
Research Committee for the Employee Assistance Professionals
Association (EAPA). He now leads research dissemination
projects for the Employee Assistance Society of North America
(EASNA) and was co-recipient of the organization’s Member of the
Year Award in 2009.
 Thomas
M. Amaral, Ph.D.
President & CEO
EAP Technology Systems Inc.
Dr. Tom Amaral is founder and President of EAP Technology
Systems Inc., which provides technologies and services to
improve the business value, quality, and return-on-investment of
employee assistance programs. He is a research psychologist who
has been evaluating and researching EAPs for nearly 30 years,
and is a recognized expert on ROI analyses, workplace outcomes,
healthcare claims cost-offset research, customer satisfaction
surveys, and benchmarking. He has designed and implemented
research and evaluation projects for many Fortune 500
corporations, governmental agencies, and other organizations.
Dr. Amaral is chief architect of the eapisoft computer
software system, which enables EAPs to measure and report on
value. In addition, he conducts training seminars on a variety
of advanced topics, including how to make the business case for
EAPs, how to perform ROI analyses, and how to implement
benchmarking and quality improvement initiatives. He has
authored and presented many papers and articles on research,
evaluation, ROI, performance metrics, and software topics.
Throughout his career, Dr. Amaral has been active in supporting
the EAP profession through his participation in EASNA and EAPA.
He currently sits on the research committees for both
organizations. He also served as an editorial board member for
the Journal of Employee Assistance Research and the
EAPA Exchange Research Supplement, co-chaired EAPA’s
national conference, and chaired the conference's research track
on many occasions. He is presently on the editorial board of
the Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health.
 PDHs
The CD recording of this audio
conference has been approved as a self-study course by the
Employee Assistance Certification Commission (EACC) for 1.5 PDHs
in Domains I and II. Please contact TSI's customer services at
1-800-755-6965 for
further information.
Order the CD now!
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Order the CD recording complete with presentation
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EAP Technology Systems Inc |
