Effects of Parity Legislation on Substance Abuse Treatme

试点-平等立法对药物滥用治疗的影响 最近在州和联邦两级政府都就药物滥用治疗服务的均等覆盖率进行了辩论。传统上，用于治疗成瘾性疾病的保险范围在私人保险甚至许多医疗补助计划中受到严格限制。反对将药物滥用服务与医疗服务同等覆盖的意见通常集中在政策的成本上。最近，美国国会已经考虑立法，要求私人健康保险下的药物滥用护理的覆盖范围“均等”。成本一直是一个核心问题。加州州于2000年7月实施了心理健康平等立法。该法律没有涉及药物滥用治疗的覆盖范围。2001年1月，联邦保健和医疗保健联合会在一个管理式保健网络内实现了精神健康和药物滥用服务的平等，或实现了所有赔偿福利的平等。从2001年1月开始，加州的经验使我们有机会研究在私人健康保险中增加药物滥用治疗平等福利的递增影响。该试点代表了Brandeis-Harvard中心与United Behavioral Healthcare（UBH）之间的合作，UBH是一家大型国家管理行为医疗保健开拓供应商，是United Health Care Group的子公司。UBH管理心理健康和物质 为北方加州的蓝盾提供反虐待服务。这项试点研究的具体目的是：（1）检查药物滥用治疗的均等对网络内医疗保健、药物滥用治疗和精神卫生保健成本的影响;（2）检查实施精神卫生服务均等而非药物滥用治疗对网络内药物滥用和精神卫生治疗模式的影响;以及（3）估计均等的影响 药物滥用治疗的质量指标。

Pilot - The Effect of Parity Legislation on Substance Abuse Treatment Parity coverage for substance abuse treatment services has been debated recently at both the state and federal levels of government. Traditionally, insurance coverage for treatment of addictive disorders has been strictly limited under private insurance and even many Medicaid programs. Objections to parity of coverage for substance abuse services at the same level as medical services typically focus on the cost of the policy. Recently the U.S. Congress has considered legislation that would mandate "parity" for coverage of substance abuse care under private health insurance. Cost has been a central issue. The State of California implemented its mental health parity legislation in July of 2000. That law does not address coverage for substance abuse treatment. In January of 2001, the FEBHP implemented parity for both mental health and substance abuse services within a managed care network or for all indemnity benefits. Beginning in January 2001, the California experience offers us the opportunity to study the incremental impact of adding a parity benefit for substance abuse treatment to private health insurance. This pilot represents a collaboration between the Brandeis-Harvard Center and United Behavioral Healthcare (UBH), a large national managed behavioral health care carve-out vendor that is a subsidiary of the United Health Care Group. UBH manages mental health and substance abuse services for Blue Shield of Northern California. The specific aims of this pilot research are: (1) To examine the impact of parity for substance abuse treatment on the in-network cost of health care, substance abuse care and mental health care; (2) To examine the impacts on in-network patterns of substance abuse and mental health treatment of implementing parity for mental health services but not substance abuse care; and (3) To estimate the impact of parity for substance abuse treatment on indicators of the quality of substance abuse treatment.