2020 Briefing Recap:
Patient Access to Behavioral Health Care and Innovative Treatments
We are proud to have hosted a successful briefing and
lunch event on February 10th, 2020 with our partners
from the California Life Sciences Association (CLSA)
and Senator Jim Beall, Chair of the Senate Select
Committee on Mental Health. Among the 65 community
and behavioral health organization attendees, Senator
John Moorlach and Assemblymember Dr. Joaquin
Arambula also attended the briefing. The briefing
highlighted the challenges and opportunities for
facilitating greater patient access to medications and
behavioral health treatment across California.
Senator Jim Beall kicked off the event with an important reminder to the audience about the disparities our state is facing as it pertains to the disconnect between treating mental illness and substance use disorders and addressing homelessness. Senator Beall also highlighted two key pieces of legislation, SB 803 peer support certification and SB 854, Mental Health: Access to SUD Treatment. SB 854 would remove insurance barriers to life-saving medication assisted treatment for individuals with substance use disorders.
Attendees also had the wonderful opportunity to hear from Steven Kite of the National Alliance on Mental Illness - California about its efforts to advocate for patient access to behavioral health treatment followed by a powerful presentation by Andrew Sperling of the National NAMI about the importance of patients having access to innovative drug therapies.
Guest Speakers Panelists
The panel portion of the briefing included speakers from:
The panel discussed the different contributing factors to some of the most challenging issues facing California. During the conversation, panelists shared their thoughts about how behavioral health treatment will look would look in ten to twenty years. Some of the insights included digital health approaches as well as gene editing routes that are already beginning to make their way into the behavioral health space.
Below are some highlights from the event. Check out the full event album on Facebook! Please click here to view the materials from this briefing.
Missed the Briefing? No need to worry as there will be ample opportunities to participate in future CAC events. Save the date for our next Membership meeting on April 13th, and stay tuned for updates and more information in our March Newsletter!
Also, if you have not renewed your CAC membership for 2020, there is still time! Please take a few moments to download and submit the CAC membership form to Simon Vue at svue@cccbha.org.
Many thanks to the following Corporate Partners for making this event possible!
Briefing Highlights
Attendees listen to the presentation by Andrew Sperling, Director of Legislative Advocacy, National Alliance on Mental Illness. Andrew provides an overview of national issues related to patient access and speaks on the importance of patients having access to innovative drug therapies.
The Briefing and Lunch was hosted at the California State Library - Stanley Mosk Library and Courts Building in Sacramento, CA. The purpose of this event was to educate attendees about the current state of behavioral health issues and the efforts that are underway to solve the existing issues and barriers to life-enhancing medicines.
Panelists from Neurocrine, Otsuka, Sunovion, and Janssen share about innovative treatments to promote patient access to behavioral health treatment. Thank you to our Moderator Patrick Henning, CLSA Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Public Affairs, for leading a successful panel discussion!