2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

339566
Illinois Investment in Mental Health: Prisons or Mental Healthcare?


Tuesday, November 3, 2015 : 10:30 a.m. - 10:50 a.m.

Heather O'Donnell, JD, Thresholds, Chicago, IL
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)
Recent state Medicaid budget cuts pose serious challenges to improving mental healthcare.  The state’s failure to invest in an adequate behavioral health safety net could cost the state millions every year in expensive and preventable hospitalizations, emergency room visits, institutionalizations, inappropriate incarcerations, and homelessness.  Increased funding and adequate reimbursement that covers the cost will be needed to assure needed community-based prevention and treatment programs.

Learning Areas:

Chronic disease management and prevention
Provision of health care to the public

Learning Objectives:
Define (1) How Medicaid funding is currently used in Illinois to support mental healthcare services. Describe the mental healthcare needs of the Medicaid population.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am vice president of Public Policy and Advocacy for a state and leader of the Illinois Behavioral Health Advocates, a coalition of organizations that work together to promote a strong community behavioral health safety net in the state.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4131.0: Defending Chicago's Mental Healthcare System