Professor Altman delivered an engaging and entertaining overview of the health care industry's financial and regulatory evolution over recent decades. Drawing on extensive personal experience and direct participation in national health care policy making under five presidents, the presentation highlighted critical health coverage issues and cost trends facing both the private and public sectors. A lively question and answer period followed. Stuart Altman currently holds the Sol C. Chaikin Professorship of National Health Policy at Brandeis University and chairs the Robert Wood Johnson Council on the Economic Impact of Health System Change. Click here to view Professor Altman's presentation slides.
Many rural areas have shortages of mental health practitioners.
In most states, mental health providers with less than doctoral training are limited by state scope of practice laws and reimbursement policies as to which services they can provide. Since the mental health workforce in rural areas is likely to consist of practitioners trained at the masters level or baccaleureate level, these practices can exacerbate problems of access. This project will investigate how scope of services and reimbursement policies affect the availability of mental health services in rural areas. A major part of the project will involve analyzing scope of practice laws in up to forty states, using follow up interviews to clarify legislative language. A Health Care Strategy for Youth.