Event ID: 1335103 Event Started: 5/6/2009 7:00:00 PM ---------- >>
Please stand by for realtime captions. >> Hello and welcome to the
webinar. I'm Miranda Kennedy, and I'm with NDI. I'll be serving as the
host and moderator today. The purpose of the webinar is to provide
navigators and their one-stops and other staff and partners with
information and tools that can be shared with your employer contacts.
Before we get started I need to address a few details with all of you in
regard to the webinar platform that we're using. If you have any
documents open on your desk top, internet sites, email, I recommend that
you close those applications. It can take up memory and slow down the
information that we're presenting. If you have any significant technical
difficulties at any point please call 866-863-3904. During today's
presentation we encourage you to post any questions you might have in
the questions and answers panel, I'm indicating that with the arrow
here. We will take breaks throughout the presentation to address the
questions. We will also open up the phone lines at the end to take
questions. You can use the raise your hand icon to alert us of your
question. In the meantime all other lines will be on mute. In the lower
right-hand side you will notice that we have closed captioning available
for participants. You can close that screen down by minimizing the
window, or you can maximize it by closing the windows above it, then you
will see more of the captioning on the right-hand side. This webinar is
being recorded. It will be posted once the series is completed at the
end of May on the training page. We will have the transcript and the
PowerPoint posted as well. Hopefully, you all received the update from
WebEx letting you know about the materials. If you had any difficulties
with downloading the information, the PowerPoint, you can shoot me an
email. I will also be doing a file transfer at the end, you should be
able to save the files at that time on to your desk top. Now that I'm
done with that piece I would like to tell you about your presenter. >>
Many of have heard of her during the administrative call during April.
Clare Miller is the director of Partnership for Workplace Mental Health,
she has a wealth of information to share with us on mental health
resources. We're pleased to have her here with us today. >> Thank you so
much, Miranda, for this opportunity and putting it together and making
it so easy for me to be a part. I hope what we have to present to you
today you will find useful and timely, given the very, very important
work that you are doing in states. >> I will jump in and get to the next
slide. This is an overview of what the Partnership for Workplace Mental
Health, we're an American Psychiatric Foundation program. We work with
employers and the American Psychiatric Association. Our purpose is very
simple, that is to advance effective employer approaches to mental
health. The idea behind the partnership is to meet employers where they
are, identify their problems, and see how the partnership can be
relevant and useful to them, and to advance effective approaches that
are already being practiced, and encourage others to take those on. I
want to draw your attention to our website which is
www.WorkplaceMentalHealth.org. All of the materials through the
Partnership for Workplace Mental Health are free. You should feel free
to promote them widely. >> Next slide. In terms of what we do the
partnership has three objectives. One, talk with employers about the
business case for quality mental health care, including the importance
of early recognition, access a care and effective treatment. We talk
about the fact that mental illnesses are a hidden illness, unlike
someone walking down the hall with a broken leg -- it's very clear that
they have a broken leg. One of our purposes with this approach with
employers is to remind them right now there are many employees that are
functioning well that have a mental health issue and are treated
successfully. This is an issue for everyone, that's what we want to
remind them of. Our second objective is to really to deliver education
materials to employers. With we talk about employers we typically work
with the folks within a company that are responsible for purchasing or
managing healthcare benefits. We also work with EAP professionals within
companies and occupational health staff, if a larger company has such
capabilities. And then, finally, we try to provide a forum for employers
to share ideas and take action. >> Next slide. Why it is we work with
employers, as you all know, employers finance about 50% of the
healthcare system. And so because of that it makes sense to work with
employers to encourage them to use their influence to improve the mental
health delivery system. We also know that employers are rightly
concerned about rising healthcare costs, and are concerned about the low
quality of healthcare in general and mental health care. Mental health
care makes up a small percentage of the total overall healthcare budget.
Those costs should probably increase if you look at the prevalence of
mental health conditions, there's clear unmet need out there. Actually
it's a small cost now, it probably should increase to meet the true
demand and need out there. In addition we know that our economy is
moving towards a brain-based economy. People's, like many of us, our
jobs require us to be present in mind and body. Our economy relies on
Braun and intellectual capacity, ability to reason and pay attention,
because of this employers are more and more concerns about mental health
issues at the workplace. It affects people during their prime working
years. Because of this fact, again, it makes sense for employers to pay
attention to mental health. If you remember anything else from today's
presentation I hope you will keep this in mind, in any given year 1 in 5
adults experiences an issue. None of us are immune. We all have within
our circle of friends, family, neighbors, there are people that have a
diagnoseable disorder. Only 13.2 receive any treatment. This is really
interesting, there's even a lower treatment rate of 5.5% in privately
insured populations. >> Next slide. Now we will go through some of the
impact that mental health has on the corporate bottom line. >> There's
four categories of places to look at how employers are impacted by
mental health. It's important to note here we're talking about untreated
mental health issues. There are so many people that experience issues
but are not seeking treatments. It includes lost productivity, they also
impact overall healthcare costs, comorbidty with other diseases. >> Next
slide. In a couple of minutes we will stop for questions. So just
quickly to go through some of the costs associated with absent eism and
lost productivity, we know more workers are absent because of stress or
anxiety than any other physical illness or injury.Employees with
depression cost employers about $44 billion per year in lost
productivity time. The point to employers is that it's too expensive to
ignore these conditions. In addition, people who are depressed but not
receiving care consuming 2-4 times the amount of care of other
employees. I'm more apt to go to the primary physician's office more and
complain of body aches or sleeping problems, when it might just be a
simple mental health issue that could receive care much more easily and
much less expensively. >> Mental health issues are comorbid with other
diseases. Twice as likely to have a stroke. That just really speaks for
itself. It's something to really pay attention to here. In addition, one
of the things I often say to employers is that even if you are not
necessarily concerned with mental health issues, if you are really
concerned about heart disease then you can't take care of heart disease
if you don't also look at the mental health component. In terms of
disability we know that mental illnesses account for about 30% or more.
This is an area we've heard a lot more from employers in recent years.
By the time that folks are on disability they're sicker, it's difficult
to get them back to work, perhaps if they had gotten care earlier they
would not have had to go out on disability. 53% of employers surveyed by
Watson Wyatt found that this return to work is much more difficult after
a psychiatric disability. >> This covers a recent study that was
published. It says two points. One, depression is prevalent. You can see
among the conditions major depression was the leading cause. And then
along with that, it's responsible for significant days of impairment,
leading the pack. >> Next slide. In addition to it being prevalent and
having sere impact on impairment, depression and chronic medical
illnesses are very frequently comorbid. This gives you examples of the
comorbidty rates, chronic pain, stroke, asthma, you can see they're very
significant rates of comorbidty. >> Next slide. And after all this
sobering news we like to point out there's some really good news,
there's a very strong business case for quality treatment. >> Next
slide. We know that treatment works. In particular, in the last couple
of decades we've made significant strides in terms of the state of the
art treatment for mental health issues. We know that major depression
can be treated with medications and therapy. And about 65 to 80% of all
cases, that's a high success rate. In addition, when folks get treats
they also report high levels of work efficacy and satisfaction. 75% of
patients who were depressed show improvements after therapy. 86% of
employees reported their work performance improved. The APA encourages
combination therapy, medications plus cognitive behavioral therapy. We
know that all too often people are not getting the additional therapy.
We hope that the recent change in mental health parity insurance that
takes effect in 2010 will change that. >> We also know that it saves
money. One Fortune 500 company received 1.7 to 1 return on investment.
This is really significant. You would think that by identifying
additional cases of a mental health issue you would see an increase in
costs. But if you factor in the cost offset for other healthcare
resources being less used because of proper treatment, and profitty
time, they say a return on investment. That includes the cost of
implementing the program. The take away is by getting people the care
they need you are addressing people who are suffering needlessly every
day, but you are doing good by the company and increasing the bottom
line.These management interventions were not rocket science. We also
know that when you open up access to mental health care you also will
Cieloer psychiatric psychiatric claims. This is an important message
right now. More and more employers are looking for places to save money.
A key message is that mental health is already so cheap and so few
people access it that need it, this is not a place to cut back on. If
anything we need to open up access more because people are more stressed
and have more mental health issues. That makes sense because it's
something that reflects taking care of employees, but it also makes
sense because you will actually have unintended consequences if you
restrict access. >> Next slide. Really the bottom line is that mental
health issues are extremely prevalent in working populations, sadly few
people receive treatment. The good news is that treatment works and it's
cost-effective. It improves outcomes for existing illnesses. We feel
there's a clear business case for tackling the issues. >> Next slide. We
will get into the information available for employers, or available for
your business services staff to extend to employers. All of these
materials are free. We hope that you will make use of them in ways that
make sense for you. I wonder if we have any questions yet to enter at
this point? >> We don't have any questions at this point. I think people
are probably absorbing all of this information. I do want to remind
folks that you can submit questions into the Q & A area. This is very
helpful information for the employer side of the equation, and for the
business services team. I don't see any questions at this time. >>
Sounds good. Please do think about some innovative ideas, things that
you are already doing to share with others. It's difficult for a webinar
to be really interactive. We would really love to have some give and
take. Please don't hesitate on asking questions. >> We have periodic
e-updates that we send out. We just sent out one today that covers
everything from changes related to the upcoming mental health parity
law, to ways to talk to kids about swine flu. That's a nice easy way to
get businesses connected with information in an ongoing why. We have a
website which we update. We have a new resource portal that is focused
on parity. We have lots of information about the business case for
quality mental health. We get into depth, we have a lot of documents
associated with articulating the business case. We have tool kits for
employers about depression and anxiety. The purpose of these calculators
is to take the statistics that we hear on a day-to-day basis and to
bring them back to a particular employer population. I think often you
hear the statistics of one in five have an experience with a mental
health issue. It's hard to identify with your particular employee
population. These are free web-based tools that an employer can input
their specific demographics into. And then you get a report that
explains how depression or alcohol is effecting your company today. It
goes through all of the areas. What does it cost in terms of product
productivity? That way you can get a sense of your business case for
your company. Okay, if these folks received treatment would would the
run be? Then you get information about how at the end of the day getting
folks treated would give you a return on investment. The idea here is to
give you information that employers can use to really make the case to
do something different to take on mental health issues. >> Next slide.
There's the slide, it gives you more information about the depression
calculator, that's what I just went through. >> Next slide. The next two
tools, again, everything is free. The first one is called "research
works." The idea here is to take a very specific workplace mental health
question and look at the research out there. Look at the potential
action steps, recommendations and also provide case examples of what
companies are doing. The first one -- this is a new product, the first
one that we developed was focused on employee financial distress and how
employees can help. The other resource of note is "mental healthworks."
It provides case examples. The latest example featured Texans their
experience and new research on AD/HD in the workplace. >> We have a
question. >> Great. >> She lives in a chiewnlt of around 250,000, how do
you select the employers that will receive your information? >> Sure. In
this regard you could really be of help to us. The newsletter gets the
widest distribution, that goes to about 30,000 people. About 10,000 of
those are psychiatrists. The other 20,000 are employers, I mean a
benefit manager, an HR person, an EAT, et cetera. We have a combination
of lists that we have compiled, it continues to grow, it's up to about
3000. The rest are from mailing lists that we purchase. Typically we
send it to the top fortune 1000. We're all looking to grow that list. We
have worked with business coalitions and chambers, or local rotary to
get folks signed up. We would love for you to go out and talk to your
rotary, the chamber, you could freely offer getting them signed up to
receive these materials, we will add them to the list. The short answer
-- I guess that wasn't so short -- we both push it out to people who we
think should get it, and collect subscriptions from people who would
like to receive it. It's free. >> It could be with the business services
teams that have contact in the community helping to identify employers
in the position that might really benefit from it, and giving them the
opportunity to sign up. >> Absolutely. The slide before you know is
another opportunity that we hope that you will make use of. It started
with this premise that one of the most useful things we do is provide
case examples of what companies are doing. They want to hear from APA
saying to do this or that. Instead we look at what is working out there.
What can we get others to do? Listen to your peers. Employer innovations
is a searcher databases. They cover all kinds of different areas. It
could be something innovative that they're doing with employee
assistance program, it could be case management, it could be
integration, or a unique partnership they have, it could be their
benefit design, but to the extent to which you are coming into employers
that are doing a really nice job of hiring or retaining people we would
love to highlight the practices and get those stories included in this.
It could be a nice way for you to give recognition to some of the
companies that are doing innovative things. Basically, what we define --
we try -- this isn't is a really super best practices kind of database.
The idea is to share examples of things that are working. Our definition
of "working" is it focuses on mental health in some way, there are
outcomes that show the innovations improve treatment and reduces costs.
If you have a company that has a nice story to tell that's a perfect
story to share. We're also looking for stories to highlight in "mental
health works." >> Next slide. The American Psychiatric Association has a
variety of information available to the public on just a vast number of
mental health issues. Some of them are illness specific. You know,
specific information about anxiety or depression. Others are just topics
of note, such as domestic violence, looking at all different kinds of
issues. We also have tip sheets. We have tip sheets about how to talk to
kids about the swine flu, we have a new survey out that looks at women
and their attitudes towards mental health issues. HealthyMinds.org, you
can get access to it all for free. If you are interested in having
materials available you could download the fact sheets, and have them
available at your one-stops. We also have brochures, there are costs
associated with them, you can order them in bulk. We do try to provide
everything in a free format if of course. >> Next slide. One of the
things that we talk with employers about is to remind them they have the
power in situation to use their purchasing power to leverage the system
and demand quality. We've heard by asking questions of their health
vendors they receive increased attention around mental health issues.
They will implement a program. By the virtue of the fact that the
employer is showing that they care about the mental health treatment
needs the vendors want to keep their business, and so are in a position
where they will consider changing how they deliver care. We really try
to encourage employers to feel empowered to use that power, that
purchasing power to change how the system is delivered in their
communities. We encourage them to ensure access to quality treatment,
again, the new parity law will hopefully change this a lot. The law will
require coverage if an employer offers mental health coverage it has to
be delivered in an equal way to that of medical and surgical benefits.
We also encourage employers to look at aligning incentives to encourage
treatment, making sure as you consider how you design your benefits that
you make sure that you don't have a whole lot of obstacles in place for
people to get through to get care. We also encourage employers to
provide education at the workplace about issues, about the impact on
work and the importance of seeking treatments. >> We have a comment that
I think is pretty appropriate at this point. >> Sure. >> One of our
navigators said I'm surprised that mental health PX is considered cheap.
Most copays are 50%. A weekly session could cost $65 an appointment. >>
That is an excellent point. I should have specified when I say mental
health is cheap I'm thinking of it from the employer perspective. Right
now let's say a therapy visit is $120 and the individual pays $50. The
employer picks up the rest of the costs through their healthcare
benefit, that would be the case if the company is self-ensured and
they're at risk for the dollars. Right now if you look at it from the
employer perspective and you look at your total claims for healthcare
and then you look at what percentage of the claims is mental health
that's where I'm saying it's cheap. Mental health care in terms of
therapy, hospital costs, prescriptions is cheap when you compare it to
costs for all health conditions, asthma, heart disease, diabetes,
pregnancy. That's the point. The point to employers is that mental
health issues are prevalent and they're costing you dollars in terms of
lost productty. In terms what you pay to treat them you are not paying
much. The cost sharing is so off, hopefully that will be changed with
the new law. Right now if I -- when I go to my primary physician I will
pay $15 or $15. Then I have to pay $50 for a therapy appointment. With
the new law the plans will have to change so whatever I would pay on the
physical healthcare side is what I pay on the mental health side. That
will be changing. That's a great thing for patients and consumers and
family members right now. I hope that's clear. It's a complicated -- a
lot of complicated factors. >> I think that was provided some clarity.
>> Yeah. >> If that didn't do it please do write in another question. 
>>
We can also open up the phone lines at the end of the call to go through
and really talk about some of these things. >> Fabulous. >> Great. >> 
We
just wanted to spend a minute to look at this one particular new
resource called "research works." It looks at employee personal
financial distress. The part of the purpose is to look at the the
research. >> We pulled together highlights from the research. We know
that one in every four feels seriously distressed. This is even more so
today, I think, than when the surveys were taken. Two thirds reported
serious financial problems for things like paying for gas to problems
with credit card debt, mortgage, food. I don't need to go into this, I
think we all are feeling in many different ways today. >> Next slide. We
also know that there's really a connection between what people are
feeling in their pocketbooks and how they're feeling in terms of mental
health. We know that survey found that most Americans are stressed about
their financial future. One reports that one in eight identify money and
the economy as significant sources of stress in their life. Other
sources of stress, work, family, housing, personal health concerns, job
stability and personal safety. >> Next. We know there's a connection
between concern about financial issues and the health of workers.
Workers with financial distress report poorer overall health. We know
that distressed workers spend a lot of time on the job dealing with or
worries about money problems. You are at work, you might make calls, you
might be moving money around trying to figure out how to keep all of the
balls in the air, how you will get food, a lot of the worrying and
dealing with happens at the workplace. We also know that there's really
been record high use of employee assistance programs and outpatient
programs. They've seen a significant increase in requests for financial
services from employees, up 88% since 2007. And also, as you might
expect, requests to get help for laidoff employees because of
downsizing. 5 to 10% increase in hospital admissions for psychiatric
visits. We're not saying here that someone is going to -- have clinical
depression because of having a financial problem, but what we're saying
is someone who might already have an issue, or be vulnerable, the
stresses associated with financial problems could put them over the top
and then it requires an intervention. I hope that's clear. We're not
saying that because of a financial problem it will equate to depression.
Someone who might already have depression, financial problems could be a
trigger for the condition. >> Next slide. In terms of employer action
steps, these are some of the things that we encourage employers to do.
For business services staff these might be potential action steps for
you to talk with employers about. One is just communicate with
employees. Frequent communication about job stability, keep the lines
open, the rumor mills are really out of control right now in many
different kinds of organizations. The more frequent that you can
communicate with employees clearly the better. In addition,
communication with supervisors is really essential so that workers know
what is expected of them. A lot of people are concerned that they need
to be working longer and harder hours to show they're worth the company
keeping them on. It's more important than ever to out for burn-out. And
to have clear communication about what the job expects of them. So there
are clear markers for how to perform. In addition, we encourage
employers to provide prevention and treatment services. This could be
things tied to financial issues, personal financial education, financial
literacy programs, and mental health services. We encourage the use of
employee assistance programs. These programs are nice because they have
the debt management and financial educational services, they can also
help with looking to see if something requires a mental health
intervention. They can provide counseling and stress management support.
The EAP is nice, they can tackle both issues here. >> Next slide. >> We
have a question coming in. >> Sure. >> Or a comment. Do employers have
mental health programs in place under a wellness program. For example,
an employee being able to have three or four sessions with a counselor.
If so do you think that the service is not being used because the
employee is embarrassed, time, et cetera? >> Excellent, excellent point.
We know that -- what I would say to that is right now a lot of people
have limits on the number of visits they might have through their health
plan. That's the thing that will change with the parity law. We know
that even with the limits many companies, maybe more than 90% of
companies provide some mental health benefit. We know that mental health
benefits are very, very under used. That's also the case with employee
assistance programs. That can be another -- I'm so glad this person
weighed in with this. It's a good strategy. Employers can really do a
service to their employees by reminding their employees about their
existing benefits and encouraging people to access benefits when they
need them. Employers can do things to just make sure that people know
that the benefit exists, how to access it, what is the telephone number
to call, or the EAP place that you need to turn, make it really easy so
if someone is willing and ready to accept help that it's easy for them.
Another thing that employers can do is encourage managers to talk to
employees about it. So it's not just coming from the HR office. It can
be part of the standard -- in our staff meeting I will go through the
expense report change and I will also remind you of your benefits and
you should use it. >> Do employers have programs in place under a
wellness program, then it's more of a positive context. It's a proactive
health issue. >> Exactly. Exactly. Many companies do have those. It just
depends on the particular company and the wellness program. Odds are
they have some sort of a program. More and more the EAPs are positioning
themselves as a wellness option. With 90% of employers having something
the odds are that companies have a program available. >> We have a
couple other comments coming in that are great, but I think we will hold
off on them until a little later. These are excellent. >> Great. Great.
I think I -- this next slide, we have case examples, I want to get the Q
& A, which is the fun part of this all. We have case examples of
companies that have had success. They're highlighted in the research
works brief. We have a section on resources. It provides information
about free websites and programs out there. There's another place for
you to look in terms of things that employers can use. >> Next slide.
Here is where I will turn it over to Miranda, who will talk about the
call to action for navigators. >> Thank you, Clare. Thank you for such
great information.I think this was a really clear presentation. We want
to let people know we have a resource guide for you to take away. That
will hopefully sum up a lot of the things that Clare provided, and
provide additional resources for you. One of the reasons we encourage
navigators to include one-stop business services staff in this webinar
is because we want -- this information is really relevant to them. Use
this information as part of marketing and outreach to employers. Include
it part of the menu of services of what is available.As you look to
share this, obviously talk with employers, and include it as they bring
up issues they might be dealing with. Possibly they're reorganizing and
looking to the future. Sharing this information with chamber of
commerce, rotary, Better Business Bureau and taking this information
with you to events such as job and career fairs and employer forums.
Different things that you might be providing to the employer community
along those lines. And partner agencies that you work with. >> We will
go over the mental health resource guide. This is a guide, we're giving
the template of it. It's not copyrighted, you can adjust this to fit
your needs. Feel free to tailor it to your needs. Feel free to build
upon this. A lot of the information Clare has already gone through. It's
here in this nice format for you. We've got -- the top item is the
mental health services locater. You can use this to find out what is
available in your local area. We have over here on the far side
suggested actions that we think you can take with each of the resources.
There's the resource, where to get it, who the target audience is, and
the suggested action items. Right now they're geared to you as
navigators, but you could gear it to one-stop staff, or employers, or
towards your employment advisors. I will not go through each of them. I
will show you what the document looks like. Currently it's three pages
long. I think it's laid out in a nice way. Here's the employer
innovation online that Clare talked about earlier. We're suggesting that
working with one-stop business services staff, encourage them to search
the database for ideas. They can do a search based on their area of
interest.Be on the look out for employer approaches. We've really
detailed some strategies that we came up with that you can use in your
local areas. Don't let this limit you. It's something to get you
started. We're hoping to prime the pump. There's the depression
calculator, a lot of the different materials that Clare referenced. This
is how you can access all of that, you don't have to go through the
PowerPoint. One other thing I will mention here, too, May is mental
health month. You can find the ten steps for working effectively on your
mental health, and things to do to take care of yourself. That's
information that you could share with your one-stop staff. This is a
website that has that information, as well. We've got NAMI, et cetera.
We've got a lot of really good resources on here. One thing I would
recommend in terms of using this guide, I'll go back to page 1, in your
local areas if you use this locater find those services in your area. I
will just do an example here. I would insert a row here at the top and
using the locater I would put in information such as the crisis line,
the suicide hotline, the fact that there's a club house that works with
people with mental health issues on employment issues. Thi is something
we're hoping that you will use and build on and tailor it to your local
areas. >> With that I will go ahead and right here I'm going to do a
transfer so that we can share this information with you online. It will
be a share file. It will take me just a second. I hope that everyone is
thinking about questions. We will be opening up the lines in just a
second. I have this file in front of you, you should all see the file
transfer, you can download this guide right now on to your computers.
With that, I will see if we have any questions. If you have any
questions that you would like to raise your hand and we'll open up your
phone line, there's an icon over here that looks like a hand, click on
that, that will let me that you want your phone line opened up. For the
moment I will mention there is someone did say how do you address
stigma? They've met customers that are uncomfortable mentioning need.
This is pretty broad question. >> Yeah. It's a huge issue. Basically
this is something that the employer should be actively working on. One
of the reasons that we encourage employers to provide information at all
different kinds of levels is to really to try to break down the stigma.
Employers have handled this differently. There are a number of employer
approaches that we have in the employer approaches online that gets at
this. We've seen some companies try to decrease stigma by talking about
the issues in a way like you would talk about any other issue. You might
take advantage of one of the healthcare months to educate employees
about a given condition, you should do the same with mental health
issues. We also encourage employers, we've seen this with some
companies, where they try to get senior leaders to talk about mental
health issues. Finding champions within the highest levels of the
company. Some companies have worked with their HR departments and
executive leadership to make sure that even the president of the company
will talk about mental health issues and the importance of treatment. By
having the messages come from the highest levels of the company can do a
lot to decrease stigma and say that we care about you, we want you to
take care of yourself. I went to a meeting earlier, we were getting
ready for a huge annual meeting, the CEO said wear comfortable shoes,
make sure you get enough sleep, they're long days, make sure you eat
well, help each out, pay attention to your stress level. That's one
model. Just as you would talk to people about taking care about their
physical bodies -- >> I have one that wrote in with a question on the
flip side. How an employee would talk to an employee. I will unmute your
line, Nicole Moore. >> Yes. I work at a local one-stop. I'm wondering if
you have advice on how an employee should g about discussing their
mental health condition with HR, it can impact their performance. >>
Yeah. I think that's a very good question. A very complex one. It
depends on the purpose of the discussion. I think that employers
typically want to understand how something will affect performance. And
what they should be doing, or might do to provide an accommodate. What I
would suggest for that is the job accommodation network. There's
fabulous tip sheets about that topic, about when to tell, and how to
talk about it, and specifically thinking through accommodations that can
be useful. This is not a legal opinion, just my thoughts. I wouldn't go
and talk to HR about my asthma condition. I probably wouldn't reveal my
physical or mental healthcare condition unless I wanted the job to be
aware of an accommodation that I needed. I would say I need to get
allergy shots once a week, I will have to leave for an hour, I would
like to make the hour up on Friday evenings. Or I'm having trouble
sleeping with my depression, I would like to request that my hours be
adjusted so I can come in at 9:00 and leave at 5:00. >> Okay. >>
Everything that I have seen -- people that are listening probably have
better ideas than that. Everything that I have seen is that you want to
talk to the employer about it in a way that focuses on performance. So
the conversation is not just I have this condition. You need to be
focused on what the outcome you hope will be. >> Okay. Okay. >> I think
the recommendation of using the job accommodation network for strategies
and how to disclose that is helpful. There's other resources available
there that might be helpful. That could be another resource that we add
to the guide. >> That's right. The whole "when." There are a lot of
questions that go into how that question is answered. I think it depends
on the individual. The job accommodation network is a fabulous, fabulous
resource. You can go in and look -- it's useful for employers who are
trying to figure out how to help an employee. It has a lot of great
ideas of things that are really easy to do. >> I will put in a plug. We
have an archived version of a webinar that we did, it was late last
fall, it's on the training page. >> Okay. >> I do want to mention
quickly that you can disclose your disability at any point. There's not
only one time to disclose. But when you determine that you need
accommodations that's the time to bring it up, whether it's when you are
hired, or at some point further on when you are experiencing some
difficulties. >> You know, a lot of people feel there's still a huge
stigma. >> Isn't that the flip side, creating that environment. What the
one-stop can do with employers is to help create that environment and
understanding where the stigma is reduced. People feel they can go human
resources and talk about this. Also there's HIPAA laws in place. I don't
know if you want to touch on that. >> I would prefer not. >> Okay. [
Laughter ] >> It's a legal thing. Basically there are proteaks in place
so that conversation is confidential. In general if you talk to
employers they say we don't want to know about someone's personal
condition no matter what it is, unless it affects performance. In
general I think a lot of employees feel concerned about sharing these
things. Sometimes it can be useful to think about the fact there's that
hesitancy on both sides. Maybe encourage the person to walk in -- I'm
talking to you about my condition because I need a accommodation, but
also let me bring you some information about the illness. So if you are
talking to somebody who is not as familiar they can read and find out
more information about what that illness is. >> Okay. >> One specific
tool is on the job accommodation network there's a tell plate for an
accommodation request letter. That can be helpful. Make it professional.
Here's what I need. Here's why I need it. Here's suggestions I have. You
can present that. It's important to get it in writing, I think. Just
have that available. I would recommend that, as well. Thank you for your
comment. We've got others that have questions. Maria, I will unmute your
line. >> Maria? >> Don't be shy. >> I'm not shy. I'm sorry. I'm away
from the phone. The question is on tax breaks for any businesses that
would use some of the approaches. Do you know of any tax breaks that
businesses could use? >> Um -- I actually don't know the answer to that
question. That's a good question. I mean, employers receive tax breaks
in general as part of -- [ Interference ] healthcare benefits. Miranda,
do you know? >> I'm not sure. We could look into the different kinds of
tax [ Speaker/Audio Faint or Unclear ] [ Interference ], that's a good
question. We'll look into tax breaks. If I can get the answer before
send out this archive tomorrow I will include it. >> If anyone happens
to know the answer to you that we encourage you to write it down to us.
>> In terms of financial implications, apart from -- that's a fabulous
question -- there are fiscal benefits associated with getting people
access to care they need. Those come in the forms of increased
productty, decreased costs. That's a great question. We will try to get
an answer to you for that. >> Other questions? >> Sorry, I was on mute.
I was going to say that for a number of individuals who might be
requesting an accommodation as they are seeking treatment for a mental
health issue a lot of times that might be flexibility. >> Right. >> It's
not -- they might be able to work early, stay late, work a weekend.
That's not an actual -- practically free accommodation for the employer
to provide. That's something to think about, too. >> Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Absolutely. >> Let's see. I wonder -- Chris, I will unmute your line.
You have something to contribute to the conversation. >> Can you hear
me? >> Yes. >> Washington state has tax countries. We can access
information by going to a website. I believe these are federal tax
credits. It's for the hiring of veterans, persons on work first
programs, persons with disabilities. >> Those work opportunity tax
credits do exist everywhere. With assistive technology -- >> Yes. >>
Great. >> I believe anybody that qualifies can be eligible for the
credit. >> I'm unmuting the line of your partner. Looks like D on ndra
has something to contribute. >> Yeah. I wanted to sort of say what Chris
said. There are tax benefits for employers who hire people with
disabilities, including architectural benefits. But the true benefit in
offering a mentally healthy workplace for the employer, the bottom line
is profit. For them that's the benefit in offering a good workplace. >>
Right. Even if you were not going to have a tax benefit, companies are
saving money. It's affecting their bottom line in a positive way. >>
Exactly. >> They just want to make more money. >> Exactly. >> Thank 
you
very much Washington state for calling in. It's great to hear from you
all today. Let's see. >> A comment from Susan. You mentioned that the
parity law will equalize the number of visits [ Speaker/Audio Faint or
Unclear ]. What is the status of that law? And how will it proceed? >>
Sure. Since we put together this presentation we've added a new new
resources on our website. I would encourage you to check it out. It's
www.WorkplaceMentalHealth.org. Here's the scoop, the law takes effect
for most plans on January 1, 2010. And basically the law says if an
employer offers mental health coverage then it has to be offered at an
equal level of physical healthcare. There was a law in 1996, that law
required that employers have the same annual and lifetime limits for
mental health costs as for physical. Since that law many employers
imposed new limits that limited the number of outpatient days, or
inpatient days. Under this law if you often mental health coverage it
has to be the same. If you have a $20 copay for a dermatologist it needs
to be the same as on the physical healthcare side. Now, the law is
passed. The regulations are not yet written for the law. The federal
government just issued, maybe the 28th of April, a request for
information. After they collect information from all of the commenting
process they will putting together an interim rule. It directs
regulations be written by October 3, I think, 2009. There's some things
that need to be worked out with the regulations. A number of issues that
have been raised since the pass and of the law. That's the short
version. The law has passed. The law amends ARISA. It takes effect
January 1, 2010. >> Great. >> Thanks. >> It looks like at the moment 
we
don't have others raising their hand or writing in. We've got a few more
minutes before we wrap up the call. We've given everyone quite a bit to
think about. I would be interested in hearing what people are already
doing in terms of working with employers and your mental health partners
and one-stop staff, to support job seekers and employees employees who
might be dealing with mental health issues. Please be thinking about
that. We would love to hear from you. I see a couple people are raising
their hands. Ed Abby? >> How are you? >> Well. How are you? >> What is
your question? >> We work with Maine med medical center. We have groups
all over the state that are made up of -- I have them sitting here with
me, as well. They can jump in. Members from other community service
organizations, mental health, Department of Vocation, to help folks with
mental health issues access employment. >> Fabulous. >> That is
excellent. You have a good partnership going on there in Maine. >> Thank
you. >> Good job. We hope this information is helpful for you. If you
have additional resources for us let us know. We would love your
feedback. Keep us posted on the good work that you all are doing. >>
Thank you. >> Fabulous. >> Let's open up Scott's line. >> Another
Washingtonon. >> That's great. >> I'm curious what is going to keep the
employer in this new law from reducing what he will cover physically to
keep his costs in line on the mental coverage? I realize it's -- they
will make more money. I know employers, I was one, I used to work for
them, a lot of the times they don't see things -- it's a bird in the
hand for them. >> Your question is spot on. I think the short answer is
we really don't know. One thing that we have heard from employers -- we
have a survey right now we will be releasing the results May 18th. We're
asking employers to give us a sense of where they go with the
implementation. Right now there's nothing that says they can't do
exactly that. Rather than bringing mental health up to physical health
that they can't bring physical health down. They might look at out of
network benefits. Right now it says if you do the same for physical
health you have to do the same thing for mental health. On the other
hand, the part of the point tot employers about the fact that mental
healthcare is so cheap, you know in a way it's sad but just because
people will now have access to a more generous benefit that doesn't mean
any that any more people will seek care. Hopefully they will. It's not
as if passage of the law will get all of these folks to start suddenly
seeking care. Around 90% have some kind of coverage now, but it's so
underused. Part of the message is this is not going to raise your costs,
there's studies to support that. But also the fact that mental health
care is reasonable. You are dead on. One of the fact sheets for
employers is information that will encourage employers not to do that.
It makes the case that the parity is cheap. It's a new thing that we
just posted this week, if you go to our home page,
www.WorkplaceMentalHealth.org, there's a little box in the right-hand
side called quick links. There's three options. One of them is mental
health parity. There's a Q & A on the parity law, it gets into the
specifics of the law. There's a facts sheet for employers, it gives
information about the business case for mental health, it talks about
parity. What else does it have? We have a couple of case examples of
companies that have instituted parity, et cetera. In the coming weeks
and months that page will be updated with more and more information. Our
next issue of "mental health works" will feature companies to help tell
the story that it will not increase costs. >> We know that employers
listen to other employers, they might not listen as well to their
one-stop staff or navigators. If others are doing these types of things
they can follow suit. It comes in handy. Also using things like the
depression calculator, or the alcohol calculator, these are pretty
unique and specific tools to help organizations look at their own bottom
line and their staff. >> Yeah. >> The stigma itself will probably keep a
lot of people from taking advantage of what they could. >> Right. >>
That will keep the costs down all by itself, unfortunately, it's not
helping those that have the problems. >> You are right. >> Using the
fact that look at our current economic climate and the crisis, a lot of
people are being laidoff who are highly skilled. The situational
depression that is happening around that. And employers that are having
to reorganize their companies and are just bleeding money. If you think
about their companies now and how they can keep their mental health
intact, and deal with those issues. I think that's a way to really talk
about what is happening right now, here's resources to be responsive to
that. As we move into an economic recovery, hopefully, let's hope for
that -- >> Keep your fingers crossed. >> If we think about using that it
could be a great launching point. Then you've the door open for hiring
and maintaining employees with diagnosed conditions during this time. It
gets the discussion started. So you can say let's talk about
accommodating your employee that is dealing with bipolar disorder.
Clare? >> I would add, you already said it. Right now with layoffs the
folks who are left at the workplace are frequently having to pick up
multiple roles, people are working two jobs realistically. The team is
not staffed as it should be. Employers, if you approach them from
thinking about the mental health issues, or the stress issues associated
with these times, it makes sense that we need it take care of the folks
at the workplace and make sure they don't burn out. These are employees
you have invested in, to make sure that the employees are aware of
programs that you already have paid for, to encourage employees to take
care of themselves so they continue to perform on the job. Right now
we're starting to see the work burn-out and the consequences. I think
it's an excellent leverage point and a place to start. Everyone is
facing it. The chances are that the person that you are talking to is
going through it themselves. >> I was just going to say, not just in the
terms of the employees that are left, but also the employers who often
times it might be they're firing people that have worked for them for 20
years. What is the impact that is taking place on them? What are tools
and strategies for them? Are they using these strategies for themselves?
Really keep that in mind when out talking to HR folks that are having to
go through laying people off. Maybe they're own worries about their own
job. I think really trying to tailor your discussion to the person that
you are talking to. It could be doing listening first. A lot of these
resources would be helpful as that menu available at the one-stops.
Here's a resource that I think could help you. You could pull from this.
It could be responsive to their needs. It would be one strategy. You
might want to use different strategies. That's something to think about.
>> Let's see. It looks like we don't have anyone else who has raised
their hand or sent in anything. We've given people quite a bit to think
about. The questions so far today are excellent. It's great to know you
are all out there working on these issues. We're hoping this call today
and the webinar and the resources we've provided will be helpful to you.
We would appreciate your feedback and comments. We want to know what you
are doing, and how to support you in the work that you are doing in your
local areas. Clare, do you have any final thoughts before we wrap up
here? >> No. I want to thank you, Miranda, for the opportunity. Thanks
to everyone for participating, and your great questions and comments.
This was fun. Thank you. >> Thank you, Clare, so much for helping to
develop such a great presentation. It's such a key and important issue,
especially now. I think it's very, very timely. I see we're getting a
lot of private comments coming in. That's a good sign. I will go ahead
and end by putting up our contact information here on the final slide.
If you have any follow-up questions let us know, that's what we're here
for. We look forward to hearing from you in the future. Happy May is
mental health month to everyone. Thanks, again, Clare. Bye. >> Bye-bye.
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