Mental Health and Substance Use Challenges Facing the United States: What Can State Policymakers Do? 

Perspective

Original Scholarship

  • Reported Strategies by Medicaid Managed Care Organizations to Improve Access to Behavioral Health Services

    Jane M. Zhu Ruth Rowland Inga Suneson Deborah J. Cohen K. John McConnell Daniel Polsky

    Behavioral health access gaps are well documented in Medicaid, in which managed care now covers most enrollees, and for which there are typically fewer options for going out-of-network for care. Despite the growing role of managed care organizations (MCOs) in financing and delivering behavioral health services, little is known about MCO levers that can improve access to care.  More

  • Facilitators of, Barriers to, and Innovations in the Implementation of the Trauma Recovery Center Model for Underserved Victims of Violent Crime in Los Angeles County

    Annette M. Dekker Adrian Yen Andrea Larco Canizalez Yesenia Perez David Salazar Bita Ghafoori Dorit Saberi Breena R. Taira

    The Trauma Recovery Center (TRC) model brings comprehensive care to underserved victims of crime, with improvements in PTSD symptoms and quality of life. Funding concerns were the central limitation in model implementation according to TRC staff.  More

  • US State Policies Regarding Social Media: Do Policies Match the Evidence?

    Marco Thimm-Kaiser Katherine Keyes

    The potential adverse effects of social media use for adolescents have received substantial attention. In response, a growing number of state-level social media regulations are emerging in the United States. These policy interventions are being implemented in the context of mixed scientific evidence, forcing policymakers to weigh the need for proactive regulation against the limitations of extant research. We explore policymakers’ publicly stated rationales for social media regulations and contextualize their claims within extant scientific literature.  More