Spotlight

January 17, 2018 , 8:00 am – 11:00 am

Advancing Justice: Pathways to Making Mental Health and Addiction Parity Reality

HILTON CHICAGO | Williford Room A

Moderated by Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy & Garry Carneal, The Kennedy Forum

Realizing justice for those with addiction, eating disorder and other mental health challenges means equal access to care and fairness when it comes to insurance coverage. Despite strong federal and state laws requiring both, millions of people are being denied the treatment and health coverage to which they are entitled. Join us to learn about what protections the law provides and what policymakers, plans, regulators, attorneys, and families can do to ensure families understand and are afforded their rights as well as the opportunity to recover and thrive.

Lawyers attending the Parity Workshop on January 17, 2018 can earn up to 2.25 IL-MCLE. CEUs for Licensed Social Workers (LCSW/LSW), Licensed Counselors (LCPC/LPC), Psychologists, and RNs are applied for.

8:00 – 8:30 am – Breakfast

8:30 – 8:45 am – Welcome: Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy, Founder, The Kennedy Forum

8:45 – 9:05 am – Retrospective: Henry Harbin, MD

Henry Harbin, former CEO of Magellan Health Services, offers a brief overview of the history of the federal parity laws and a retrospective on how far we’ve come on mental health and addiction parity since 2008.

9:05 – 9:25 am – A Consumer’s Experience with Parity: Julie & Victor Hudy

Julie and Victor Hudy discuss their experience trying to obtain coverage for their son Joey’s mental health treatment. They review the problems they faced getting their insurance company and treating providers to comply with mental health parity laws and fair billing practices.

9:25 – 9:45 am – Federal Regulatory Update: Amy Turner, U.S. Department of Labor

Amy Turner, director of the U.S. Dept. of Labor’s Office of Health Plan Standards and Compliance Assistance, will review the federal government’s key parity enforcement activities, including the recently enacted 21st Century Cures Act.

9:45 – 10:05 am – State Regulatory Action: Tim Clement, The Kennedy Forum

Tim Clement, senior policy advisor at The Kennedy Forum, will discuss what states are doing and should do to improve parity compliance, with a particular emphasis on integrating analyses of non-quantitative treatment limitations into audits, market conduct examinations and targeted data requests as part of the form review process. He also will provide an overview of www.paritytrack.org.

10:05 – 10:25 am – Parity Accreditation: Michael Reisman, ClearHealth Quality Institute, and Brad Lerner, Beacon Health Options

Michael Reisman, president of ClearHealth Quality Institute, and Brad Lerner, associate general counsel and director of parity compliance at Beacon Health Options, will discuss how parity accreditation can advance health care quality. They will provide updates on a new endeavor developing the first private accreditation program for mental health parity laws, providing insurers, benefit administrators, and employers with a much-need roadmap for compliance.

10:25 – 10:45 am – Empowering Families: Kelly O’Brien, The Kennedy Forum

Kelly O’Brien, executive director of The Kennedy Forum Illinois, will talk about trends in consumer complaints and present new tools and strategies to help inform individuals and providers of their rights under the law and how to exercise them. Among other resources, she will highlight www.parityregistry.org.

10:45 – 11:00 am – Moving Forward, A Call to Action: Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy, Founder, The Kennedy Forum

Congressman Kennedy will review next steps in parity enforcement and discuss what to expect and what you can do as we approach the 10-year anniversary of the federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.