According to the report, the people that need mental health services the most are left behind by how mental health care is approached. National reporting on mental healthcare does not include nearly six million Americans that are more likely to experience mental illness, such as incarcerated individuals, those in nursing homes and active military members.
“Society can no longer allow social determinants of health such as homelessness, lack of access to care, cultural stigma and unemployment contribute to this unacceptable suffering and needless loss of live, especially in minority and underserved communities,” Tarek Rabeh, president and chief executive officer of Otsuka North America, said. “We need a mental health care system to meet patients where they are and when they need it with on demand, real-time assistance.”
For the study, “The Economic Burden of Mental Health Inequities in the United States Report”, the Satcher Institute worked with the Eugene S. Farley, Jr. Health Policy Center at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and the Robert Graham Center for medical research. Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc, a company that does much work in mental health, provided financial support for the study.
The pandemic and its lingering effects were linked to the worsening mental health of minority communities, and the study also lays out policy recommendations and ways to improve equity such as establishing health equity measurements, eliminating stigma from health systems and creating systems of care that are community focused.
“I’d like to see every one of the policymakers in this country dedicated to creating more robust, comprehensive health policies that will address mental health inequities in their cities, counties, states and in this country,” said Dawes. “If we don’t, the problems are only going to get worse.”
The full report is available here.
——————————————————————
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Report for America are partnering to add more journalists to cover topics important to our community. Please help us fund this important work at ajc.com/give
