Both mothers of two children seeking mental health care are on a waiting list along with hundreds of other Colorado families.
“We are desperately trying to find care for her,” said one mother, who requested anonymity.
Nicole Vinson added, “I don’t have to wait until my daughter is in full crisis to remove her from care.”
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They shared their story with CBS News Colorado in April, but now things are changing.
“The waiting list is now down to 25 people, and some families are being seen and receiving services,” said Blair Skinner, director of the Child Wellness Place in Bloomfield.
She was one of the first insurers to raise concerns that private insurers, particularly Anthem, one of the state’s largest insurers, were not only slow to bring new staff into the network, but essentially They claimed that they do not allow people who are “residents” to join. What sets us apart from other companies is that we accept patients.
We asked the state if it needed to change.
“I think this is one of the very interesting and potentially creative solutions in terms of prelicensure work,” said Carla Cheevers, director of the Colorado Department of Health’s Behavioral Health Program, at the time. He told CBS News Colorado’s Karen Morfitt.
Since that discussion, Mr Cheevers has issued a formal recommendation that all companies be allowed to make supervisory claims, launched a new transparency tool to help providers understand their policies, and created a new transparency tool to help providers report concerns. He said he had created a new method.
“The conversations we’ve had certainly highlight certain issues, and this collective conversation we’re having is, ‘How can consumers get the care they need, when they need it?’ It deepened the conversation,” Cheevers said.
Skinner said Anthem currently allows patients to see some relicensed staff, but not all.
“This is how we replenish all kinds of medical settings. That’s what hospitals do, that’s what doctors do, that’s how they learn. It’s really great to see that. “It’s really great to see the waiting list go down,” Skinner said. .
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She hopes it’s just the first step, though she says the exercises she’s seen over the past few months have helped tremendously.
“We’ve taken leaps and bounds. We’ve taken leaps in the right direction, but we’re certainly not there yet. So we’re not going to stop moving forward,” she said.
An Anthem spokesperson said all changes have been shared with the Colorado Department of Insurance, but also issued the following statement:
”Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Colorado currently has a pre-registered company with at least a master’s level education, professional licensure, and compliance with all applicable policies, including supervision by a licensed and qualified physician. We reimburse for services provided by licensed clinical behavioral health providers. network provider. Bringing these providers into our network gives our members another choice in their care. ”
