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A recent full-day seminar on mental health in the workplace took a closer look at mental health strategies, the role of employers and regulatory challenges in the form of the Mental Health Equality Regulation.
Cheryl Larson, president and CEO of MBGH, reviewed research showing that manager training is the most important part of member companies’ mental health benefit strategies. He noted that the term wasn’t even included in surveys a few years ago, but is now a top target for employers. “We’ve come a long way. We all recognize the importance of manager training,” she said. He also noted that employee engagement, chronic disease management, and high-cost medical claims were the top health benefits priorities in the survey. Mental health/substance abuse benefits were also a top category of employer priorities.
Mental health experts reflect on stress and stigma
A panel of three mental health experts discussed recent trends in mental health in the workplace. They agreed that it was a time of great change. Employees are more interested than ever in discussing mental health and finding solutions to their problems, but stigma remains an issue, even in getting a proper diagnosis or simply finding a health care provider. There is a problem. request.
Megan Delp, director of workplace mental health at the National Alliance on Mental Illness, says a recent survey of medium and large employers found that many employees are talking openly about mental health issues. Despite this, it was found that barriers still remain. “We found that 74% of American workers want to talk about mental health at work,” she said. “So 3 out of 4 people want this to be a conversation. But only 58% of people are actually happy with doing that. So there’s a gap there. .”
Among those who said they were uncomfortable, respondents cited prejudice, fear of retribution, and lack of communication about these issues in the workplace as the main reasons for their discomfort. “That fear, that stigma around mental health is really ingrained,” she said.
The survey also found that 52% of respondents said they had experienced burnout in the past year. “We know that American workers are feeling very stressed. They feel overworked and they don’t get a break,” Delp said.
The panel also discussed the use of ketamine, a new development in mental and behavioral health treatment. Tara Mind’s founder and CEO, Marcus Capone, is a former Navy SEAL with personal experience of the trauma experienced by military personnel. He said many of the treatments and medications that traumatized workers turn to are ineffective for their types of depression and anxiety. His company is building on research showing that ketamine-assisted therapy can help people with treatment-resistant conditions. He emphasized that the new treatment is clinical and therapist-guided and supported by recent research published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“There’s a huge gap that I experienced…I was considered treatment-resistant. I and millions of other people are not responding to older technology. ” he asked. “This is important because not only is it impacting a portion of the workforce, it’s also costing employers. There are significant costs here.”
The panel also considered advances in technology. Dr. Taryn Carleton, Director of Global Healthcare Strategy, Digital Medicines and Therapeutics at Otsuka Pharmaceutical, described new developments in digital therapeutics and said this field will create new opportunities for employees. She noted that access is a big advantage of a more digital approach. “Think about it: With digital therapy, patients no longer have to wait to be seen,” she says. Carlton said the wait time for a therapist can be six months in some cases. “Imagine suffering for six months until you receive better treatment,” she added. Being able to reduce wait times and receive more timely assistance “that’s huge,” she said.
Employer perspective — demonstrating leadership is key
The afternoon session featured new strategies for employers to improve workplace mental health. One of the topics covered was the status of Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), long-standing organizations that help employees with mental health and other issues.
Tara Sherman, Boeing’s mental health and well-being strategy leader, said EAPs are evolving. “We are in the process of transitioning from a traditional her EAP to a more innovative her one of her EAPs,” she said. “The concept is that all (EAP) providers are also included in our health insurance,” she said, adding that the new arrangement will cover more sessions for employees. “This continuity of care is really important to us,” Sherman said.
The panel discussion also addressed changing attitudes among workers towards talking about mental health. Wendy McLaughlin, assistant director of human resources for the city of Gary, Indiana, said younger employees are sometimes taking the lead in reducing bias among city employees.
“One of the things we’ve noticed is that our workforce is getting younger. We’re finding that millennials don’t care about being labeled and they don’t care about asking for help. ” she said. “They’re very open and honest about needing help. So the bias we see with older employees…some of the work is through our younger employees. [older workers] You look at them and say, “Maybe you should reach out and ask for help.” ”
Sherman noted how important it is for leaders to set a similar example for workers. “There was a middle-aged white male executive who said, ‘I want to share my story,'” she recalled. “Once he shared that, a few other employees started coming forward. By offering these journeys, by giving these stories, it gives people someone to relate to… It makes people realize they’re not alone. It helps you feel that way.”
Employers prepare for new mental health equality rules
Margaret Faso, executive director of the American Health Policy Institute and senior director of public policy at the HR Policy Institute, also spoke at the conference and outlined the challenges of the new mental health equity rules.
Faso noted that the regulations can be dense and difficult to dig into, but added that the new mental health equality rules could have a significant impact on employers. The new rules were announced last year and are expected to be finalized in 2024. Faso said the rule would likely impose new mental health parity requirements on employer health plans, which could impact reimbursement rates and administrative/compliance costs.
“We expect reimbursement rates to increase” as a result of this change, she said. “While this brings providers into the network, it can also increase administrative and compliance costs.”
Mr Faso said employer organizations were working with the Department of Labor to make the rules around mental health equality more clear, and although the new rules were expected to be more detailed and provide guidance. It said it would still likely impose new burdens on employer-sponsored health plans. . This will require employers to work closely with third-party administrators and other partners to ensure everyone is on the same page and compliant, he said. When asked more specifically about cost increases, Faso said that while it is difficult to predict with certainty, the best guess is that administrative costs could increase from 2% to 7%.
