PLAKUN: Medical Director and Chief Executive Officer, Austen Riggs Center, Stockbridge, MA; and Founder, American Psychiatric Association Psychotherapy Caucus, Washington, DC.
J Psychiatr Pract. 2021 May 5;27(3):199-202. doi: 10.1097/PRA.0000000000000541.
This column summarizes the verdict in the federal class action known as Wit v United Behavioral Health (UBH)/Optum, highlighting the verdict's implications for increasing access to care, implementing the mental health parity law, and reducing health disparities. Achieving these results requires recognition of the verdict as more than simply a nice news story, but as a decision that actually offers individual clinicians, their professional organizations, as well as patients, families, and their consumer organizations, a powerful tool for implementing change if they take up the task of learning how to use it. The verdict applies to outpatient treatment, including psychotherapy, along with 2 other levels of care: intensive outpatient programs and residential treatment.
本专栏总结了联邦集体诉讼案 Wit v United Behavioral Health (UBH)/Optum 的判决结果，重点介绍了该判决对增加获得医疗服务的机会、实施精神健康平等待遇法以及减少健康差距的影响。要实现这些结果，就必须认识到这个判决不仅仅是一个好消息，而是一个实际为个体临床医生、他们的专业组织以及患者、家庭及其消费者组织提供的决策，如果他们承担起学习如何使用它的任务，那么这将是一个实施变革的有力工具。该判决适用于包括心理治疗在内的门诊治疗，以及另外 2 个级别的治疗：强化门诊治疗计划和住院治疗。
