News Clips
KOA NewsRadio Close-Up: Mental Health Parity
KOA NewsRadio's Jerry Bell sits down with Andrew Romanoff, President & CEO of Mental Health Colorado, to discuss a new report from Milliman revealing insurance disparities between mental health care and physical health care.
‘Maybe You Should Pay Them More’: Insurance Not Compensating Mental Health Providers
By Stan Bush
DENVER (CBS4)– Mental health care advocates are blaming insurance companies for an alarming gap in service, according to a study.
The survey, conducted by Mental Health America and The Kennedy Forum, concludes that mental health patients are forced to look for care outside of their insurance network seven times more than physical care patients.
Andrew Romanoff, CEO for Mental Health Colorado blames insurers for not compensating mental health providers, estimates to be 40 percent less than their counterparts in physical care.
“We ...
Study reveals mental health care providers are hard to find in Colorado
Anastasiya Bolton, KUSA
November 30, 2017
DENVER - Results of a national study released Thursday revealed mental health care providers are difficult to find, hard to pay for and often make less than other physicians.
The study was sponsored by Mental Health Colorado’s national organization Mental Health America, The Kennedy Forum, and other large mental health and substance use organizations.
"The study shows that mental health providers aren’t making as much as other health care providers and as a result,” said Andrew Romanoff, president and CEO of ...
If Your Insurer Covers Few Therapists, Is That Really Mental Health Parity?
By Jenny Gold | NOVEMBER 30, 2017
It’s been nearly a decade since Congress passed the mental health parity act, with its promise to make mental health and substance abuse treatment just as easy to get as care for any other condition. Yet today, in the midst of the opioid epidemic and a spike in the rate of suicide, patients still struggle to access treatment.
That’s the conclusion of a report published Thursday by Milliman Inc., a national risk management and health care consulting company. The report was released by a coalition of mental health and ...
New mental health tool to help communities
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) -- One local non-profit group is making it easier to find mental health statistics in your community.
Mental Health Colorado created the data dashboard. You can select your county, like El Paso County. Then you can scroll over each picture to see the numbers for where you live. For example, 12 percent of residents in El Paso County reported eight or more days of poor mental health. That's higher than the state average.
We sat down with the CEO to talk about how you can use this new tool.
“Now we put all this data in one place so ...
Cross Currents: Mental Health Colorado
By CHRISTIN KAY • NOV 21, 2017
One out of every four Coloradans experience a mental health or substance use disorder every year. That’s nearly a million of us.
Today on Cross Currents, host Christin Kay speaks with Andrew Romanoff. He’s president and CEO of Mental Health Colorado, a nonprofit which advocates for mental health treatment. He’s also a former speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives.
We spoke about what’s being done, both across the state and locally, to improve mental health care.
Listen to the interview here.
Colorado mental health data moves in wrong direction despite some promising trends
By Jack Queen
More High Country residents are saying they experience at least one week of poor mental health days per month than two years ago, and the percentage who say they needed mental health care but didn't get it increased as well, according to state survey data.
Despite promising trends in Summit County mental health care, including a suicide rate near a 10-year low, those figures and a host of behavioral-health-risk-factor data show there is plenty of work left to be done.
"The fact that suicides are down doesn't necessarily mean people are experiencing more ...
Group aims to boost Coloradans’ mental health
Colorado routinely makes the list as one of the physically healthiest states in the union, but a new effort by the organization Mental Health Colorado strives to make Colorado the mentally healthiest state too.
The group’s president, former Colorado state Rep. Andrew Romanoff, said the new data dashboard that just launched on the group’s website offers Coloradans a chance to see where they stand in terms of mental health and substance abuse disorders.
“Previously you would have had to go to several dozen sources to get all this information,” said Romanoff.
...
New data helps Aspen, other areas compare suicides, mental health issues
By Scott Condon
One way to reduce the 1,000-plus suicides that occur each year in Colorado is to integrate mental with physical health care, according to a statewide nonprofit.
Mental Health Colorado is promoting the idea that state residents should pay as much attention to what's going on in their head as in their heart, said executive director Andrew Romanoff, a former Colorado House speaker.
One tool to achieve that goal is to make free, confidential mental health screenings universal, he said.
Romanoff will be one of the featured speakers Thursday at the Aspen ...
Eagle County voters approve marijuana tax to fund mental health programs
by Randy Wyrick
EAGLE COUNTY — Eagle County has its own marijuana tax, following months of proponents jonesing for it.
Ballot Issue 1A won in a landslide, with support from more than 73 percent of voters.
"Eagle County voted to save lives. It was a bipartisan effort to put this over the top," said Andrew Romanoff, CEO of Mental Health Colorado.
The tax on recreational marijuana could generate an estimated $2 million annually for county coffers. Of that, the first $1.2 million is supposed to be spent on mental health and substance abuse programs in the Eagle River and ...
