The Connecticut Insurance Department and the UConn Health Center are collaborating to help families struggling to get mental health treatment paid through their insurance, according to Gov. Dannel Malloy.
Malloy said the department and the health center are developing a “user-friendly ‘claims tool kit’” for policyholders and providers, including out-of-network providers who operate on cash basis.
The goal, according to a news release from Malloy’s office, is to reduce the number of insurance denials.
“No one should have to overcome mountains of red tape when they are trying to access mental health services,” Malloy said. “This collaboration allows us to leverage the respective expertise of the Insurance Department and the UConn Health Center to put in place a common-sense approach to what can be a profoundly frustrating process. I commend the Insurance Department and the Health Center for their commitment to improving mental health care access for residents.”
Access to mental health services is part of the governor’s multi-prong plan to reduce gun violence in response to the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown in December.
“It’s been the Department’s observations that incomplete or incorrect information, coding errors, and other documentation issues are often the cause of claims denials requiring multiple appeals. We don’t want families having to fight to get the care they need,” Deputy Insurance Commissioner Anne Melissa Dowling, who oversees the Department’s health insurance initiatives, said.
Malloy said the claims tool kit, which should be complete this summer, is the first in a series of behavioral health projects the Insurance Department and Health Center are undertaking to assist consumers and providers.
Photo Credit: Gunnar Pippel