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The Meadows Institute Goes to Washington
Over the last few years, the Meadows Institute has provided invited testimony in front of many state legislative committees. In 2021, our legislative impact went national.
photo by Carol McDaid
National Impact.
Andy Keller, PhD, informs the U.S. Senate Committee about promising system transformation in Texas that could serve as models for saving lives nation-wide.
In April, Andy Keller provided two hours of invited testimony in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Keller discussed the effect the COVID-19 pandemic has had on mental health and addiction, and how major system transformations underway in Texas can be used as models for the nation. He focused on North Texas’ The Cloudbreak Initiative and how it is driving and guiding health systems in the adoption and implementation of the collaborative care model, which is key to responding to the four-fold increase in rates of depression, record rates of death from overdose, and mounting rates of death from suicide the nation is facing.
He also focused on how mental illness and health care inequities have made the coronavirus even more lethal. “Mental illness is the second-leading driver of COVID-19 related deaths, following only age,” he testified. “The effects of COVID-19 worsen underlying inequities, taking the lives of four times as many working-age Latino Texans and leaving nearly 50% more Black children without a parent because of COVID-19 than other children.”
He shared the Meadows Institute’s model of universal scaling for two current treatment approaches (collaborative care for suicide and medication-assisted treatment for overdose) that could save 40,000 lives a year.
Responding to questions, he stressed that, while expanding broadband access will increase the reach of telehealth, lawmakers should also keep in mind the importance of audio-only telephone counseling, which can be even more effective than in-person counseling and is already overcoming inequities for people in rural communities and people living in poverty.
Keller’s testimony was well received and is reflective of our growing opportunities to provide trusted guidance to policymakers in Washington, D.C., and beyond.
Mental illness is the second-leading driver of COVID-19
related deaths, following only age,” Andy Keller, PhD testified.
CRUCIAL MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS &
OPPORTUNITIES GET A NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Since its founding, the Meadows Institute has proven to be an influential voice in mental health care in Texas. Increasingly, the Institute is also participating at a national level.
Continuing our work with the CEO Alliance, which includes CEOs from the nation’s 14 leading mental health organizations, the Institute has helped spread the word about issues crucially important to mental health care in the United States.
An opinion piece in The Hill, written early in the year by Andy Keller and National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) CEO Daniel H. Gillison, Jr., called attention to the mounting mental health challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic and emphasized the importance of programs like The Cloudbreak Initiative to help address them. They offered the Initiative as a blueprint to guide the scaling up and delivery of an equitable and effective response to meet growing post-pandemic needs for mental health and substance use disorder care.
Another theme the Alliance emphasized was the importance of recognizing mental health issues as conditions that contribute to worse COVID-19 outcomes and, late in the year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did just that, adding mental illnesses to a list of conditions to prioritize in testing, treatment, and vaccination.
In October, Keller appeared on a panel at the influential Milken Institute Global Conference in California, joining other national experts to discuss how philanthropy can make a massive difference by helping reform mental health care at the most local level. The conference reached 11 million people through its social media efforts.
The Institute also expanded its efforts in Washington, D.C., with Keller providing invited testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions about the effect the COVID-19 pandemic has had on mental health and addiction.
The Meadows Institute also worked with longtime mental health champion U.S. Senator John Cornyn of Texas, and supported legislation he introduced to revolutionize the way mental health crises are handled in the U.S., including the establishment of federal standards for crisis response as well as added coverage for mobile crisis teams and crisis stabilization services in Medicare, Medicaid, and other health care plans.
Senator Cornyn also included support of collaborative care in separate legislation, a model the Institute has emphasized as particularly effective.
Later in the year, Keller and noted mental health expert Dr. Thomas Insel penned a STAT News opinion piece, “Why is the CDC missing in action on severe mental illnesses?” The piece drew attention to the need for better national tracking of mental health data and trends, and for more nimble response times from the CDC.
The Meadows Institute is increasingly working to provide guidance and data to help inform federal efforts to improve mental health care.