In addition, some institutions have age limit policies that negatively affect treatment and limit access to care. Many plans limit the number of nutrition visits to one per year and the number of mental health visits to 6 or fewer. The current practice of low reimbursement rates for psychosocial services results in fewer qualified persons who are willing to care for teenagers and young adults with eating disorders. Uncompensated care by hospitals, physicians and other professionals threatens the survival of existing programs. We also call upon private and public agencies to provide necessary funding to allow for advancement of knowledge in the prevention, etiology and management of eating disorders in adolescents.
Several issues deserve further study.
These studies will require collaboration of multiple disciplines from numerous sites in multi-center protocols. The prevalence of bulimia nervosa in the US college student population. Yager J, Andersen A, Devlin M, Mitchell J, Powers P, Yates A. American Psychiatric Association practice guidelines for eating disorders. Anorexia nervosa presenting as growth retardation in adolescents. Bachrach LK, Guido D, Katzman DK, et al.