This study, produced by SAMHSA and Mathematica, examines the effects of the vermont mental health and substance abuse parity law, which went into effect on January 1, 1998. The report looks at "six domains: (1) implementation process; (2) employer issues; (3) insurer/health plan issues; (4) provider issues; (5) consumer issues; and (6) effects on health care access, utilization, and spending."

The full report is available from SAMHSA at: http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publications/allpubs/sma03-3822/default.asp

From the Commonwealth Fund:

In order to serve increasing numbers of Medicaid beneficiaries, particularly during an economic recession, states must find ways to maximize the impact of available funds. Some states are identifying new ways of organizing, financing, and delivering health care in order to lower costs without sacrificing quality of care or enrollment capacity. An important tool for helping policymakers design such "value-added" strategies is return-on-investment (ROI) analysis. ROI forecasting has long been used to inform the allocation of limited resources in the private sector. This brief outlines what ROI can do, and in a few cases has already done, in the public sector, to improve quality and control costs in Medicaid. In order to serve increasing numbers of Medicaid beneficiaries, particularly during an economic recession, states must find ways to maximize the impact of available funds. Some states are identifying new ways of organizing, financing, and delivering health care in order to lower costs without sacrificing quality of care or enrollment capacity. An important tool for helping policymakers design such "value-added" strategies is return-on-investment (ROI) analysis. ROI forecasting has long been used to inform the allocation of limited resources in the private sector. This brief outlines what ROI can do, and in a few cases has already done, in the public sector, to improve quality and control costs in Medicaid.

Full Report: Maximizing Quality and Value in Medicaid: Using Return on Investment Forecasting to Support Effective Policymaking

The Medicare Improvments for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 amends "titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to extend expiring provisions under the Medicare Program, to improve beneficiary access to preventive and mental health services, to enhance low-income benefit programs, and to maintain access to care in rural areas, including pharmacy access, and for other purposes." Pertinent to mental health, Title I, Subtitle A, Part 1 specifies dates for the gradual elimination, by 2014, of differential copayment rates for outpatient Medicare psychiatric services. This section is not applicable to substance use services.

The legislation became law on 7/15/2008 as PL 110-275

Text of the legislation: The Medicare Improvments for Patients and Providers Act of 2008

The Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA) reauthorizes the CHIP program through FY2013 and makes funding determinations for the CHIP programs in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The reauthorization also requires CHIP programs to comply with parity provisions in the 2008 Wellstone-Domenici Mental Health Parity and Substance Use Equity Act. Full text of the legislation is below:

Text of Legislation (PDF)

From the Kaiser Family Foundation:

This issue brief examines coverage of the nearly 9 million "dual eligible" beneficiaries, the low-income elderly and persons with disabilities who are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid. It explores the national and state impacts of shifting the financing of selected services for dual eligibles from Medicaid to Medicare, including having the federal government pick up the full cost of Medicare premiums, cost-sharing and gaps in Medicare-covered services and long-term care services for this population.

Full Report: Rethinking Medicaid's Financing Role for Medicare Enrollees

This perspective uses employer health promotion efforts to demonstrate ways that instituting commonsense prevention measures can lead to risk reduction and cost savings and may alter the paradigm through which we view health care costs.

Goetzel, Ron Z. Do Prevention or Treatment Services Save Money? The Wrong Debate (2009). Health Affairs, 28(1), 37-41. DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.28.1.37 http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/28/1/37