Meiram Bendat Gives Parity Seminar at Yale Medical School

Psych-Appeal founder Meiram Bendat gave an hour-long seminar today at Yale School of Medicine. His presentation, titled “Addressing Treatment Incursions by Insurers in the Era of Mental Health Parity,” covered an array of issues applicable to mental health parity, from federal parity rules and regulatory enforcement to the scrutinization of insurer denials.

“We certainly don’t penalize people in the medical context for obesity by denying them care for diabetes down the road,” remarked Bendat during the presentation. “So why should we do anything different in this capacity?”

When reviewing an insurer’s denial of mental health treatment, Bendat urged attendees to compare the insurer’s criteria with generally accepted criteria, including state-mandated criteria as well as physician specialty association guidelines issued by the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP).

We thank all those who attended and contributed to the thoughtful discourse. The seminar was hosted by Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry Grand Rounds.