Robert W. Seifert, MPA, a UMass Medical School health policy expert, will moderate a panel about the barriers to care for mental health and substance use disorders (SUD) at a Massachusetts Health Reform Survey event hosted by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation at The Colonnade Hotel in Boston on Dec. 11.
Seifert, senior director, Health Law & Policy, will be the moderator of a discussion entitled, MH/SUD Services and the Barriers to Care. Discussion will follow a presentation from Urban Institute Senior Fellow Sharon Long, PhD, who will reveal the Massachusetts Health Reform Survey results related to access to care for mental health and SUD services.
Panelists will include Gretchen Acevedo, program director, Behavioral Health Addiction Urgent Care, Community Healthlink; Ken Duckworth, MD, medical director for Behavioral Health, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts; David C. Henderson, MD, professor and chair, Department of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, and Psychiatrist-in-Chief, Boston Medical Center.
The panel is one of two that will take place at the event, which will feature the release of the 2018 Massachusetts Health Reform Survey results. The survey includes updated data on core measures of health care access and affordability, and, for the first time, data on access to care for mental health and substance use disorder services. The survey has been conducted periodically since 2006 to track changes in the health care system in Massachusetts.