IABH CEO Sara Moscato Howe
(Springfield, IL) – The Illinois Department of Insurance has received a $1.3 million federal grant to improve consumer and healthcare provider outreach, focusing on parity in mental health & substance use disorder benefits, and preventative health services.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to further our Administration’s coordinated efforts on mental health,” Acting Director of DOI Anne Melissa Dowling said. “These funds will help extend our outreach.”
Illinois Association Behavioral Healthcare CEO Sara Moscato Howe echoed Dowling comments.
“The grant does present an important outreach opportunity to help individuals struggling mental health or substance use disorders to get the care that they need, but otherwise may forgo by being unaware of insurance benefits to which they are entitled,” Howe said.
A portion of the grant will be directed to the Office of Consumer Health Insurance to improve data tracking and consumer complaint analysis. It will also help in increasing awareness of the internal and external appeals processes for health insurance consumers. The grant will allow the state insurance department to develop community-focused health insurance consumer education for Illinois residents.
The state agency will also work with health plans, consumers and providers to ensure that mental health parity compliance is understood.
“I am committed to furthering this collaboration to achieve mental health parity in the commercial health care system by collaborating with my colleagues as well as with the provider community in Illinois,” said Dowling.
showe@ilabh.org
Illinois Association for Behavioral Health News Blog 