As a Addiction, Mental Health, and Behavioral Health Interventionist I find most people are not given the options that are currently available to them and the public is mostly unaware of the mis-legislation that leads to treatment marketing mis-information. The agency that is responsible to for holding providers accountable for misleading information is a farce as it relates to stopping the problem in the same way treatment providers have failed at correcting the opioid crisis. Where are the legislators when you need them?
People are questioning who is responsible to cause a shift in actual treatment when the providers themselves are not educated enough to provide the most effective treatments available. Often providers don’t report the cost of failure rates of the patients they treat.
What does that mean for the person seeking treatment?
It used to be a person would be required to be assessed and evaluated in person before receiving recommendation of treatment. Now a days unless you hire someone like myself to help you through the process or you most likely will be funneled into what your insurance pays for and if your provider doesn’t offer other available services they will “Lie by Omission” to make sure you fit into their model of care. To be fair here providers are told not to deny treatment to those who have the “disease” due to some requirement that I’ve never found to be clear or true or medically or clinically accurate that has caused unscrupulous people to take advantage of the insurance system. In turn treatment providers seem to blame the insurance companies for not reimbursing instead of providing care they know to be appropriate.
What about the people that pay all cash, do they get a choice? Not if the treatment facilities’ medical protocols, policies and procedures include accepting insurance; They must treat everyone the same; no discrimination.
Yes its true treatment providers are not allowed discriminate the core things that matter including race, gender and social economic status. In other words if you have no job, education, and or community support you receive the same treatment as the President. Sounds bizarre right? To act like you should help people within their means and abilities and on the other side of the treatment room there is a person that makes that story untrue.
So what is the solution?
Go back to what worked before this disabled person idea got out of hand including updated science and medical treatments available being required in all treatment centers.
Nest Step: be responsible and take accountability for yourself as that’s how everyone makes it.
If you don’t know Hire someone to help you learn the difference or allow the time to research and learn the difference yourself.
The investment companies are not disabled and they only increase in value by keeping/treating people that are disabled as they are dependent on the reimbursements from the insurance companies for the treatment they provide to disabled people.
Good news is Insurance companies are now changing their tune and hiring people like myself to get their value-based models together to pay providers ahead of their care instead of waiting months or even years to pay providers for treatment they already provided. Get this they want to Enable peoples health and wellbeing.
The Medical field is accepting psychedelic producing procedures and treatment providers have to adjust their business models in order to provide care for people seeking the kinds of treatments that may be cured with psychedelics including the currently available Ketamine.
So to answer the question: Is Mental Health treatment being misled by Mis-Legislation or Mis-Information? Both. Legislation: needs to be changed; Substances that are known to help people should not be banned. Mis-Information: People who are ignorant on how prescribed medication can help people should not work in the medical or clinical field of treatment that relates to people consuming prescribed medications. Advertising as such should be banned for licensed treatment providers.
The prescribers are the responsible party as everyone else is in support and we all need legislation to help with the continues strain. It’s a shift in practice that’s been needed for quite some time and there is much work ahead and being in community can help those involved.
It’s true we need more community or what I call Community+: Access, Community and Education or A.C.E.. To allow people safe Access in Community with Education for life.
If you would like to contact Dr. Rickard please do so here