Public Policy in Psychiatry Over 40 Years

As Psychiatric Times celebrates its 40th anniversary all year long, Sara Robinson, DNP, RN, PMHNP-BC sat down to discuss 40 years of mental health care and what has changed in psychiatry.

Robinson is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner and a professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing in Baltimore. She is also the director of the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program at the university.

“There have been a number of different laws enacted to essentially impact and mitigate some of the potential concerns of the pharmaceutical industry’s impact on providers prescribing practices,” Robinson said. These changes really took place in the 90s and started with the introduction of direct-to-consumer advertising in 1997 for pharmaceutical companies. Advertising medications directly to patients created a complex issue in the doctor’s office when patients would come in asking for prescriptions by name.

“It was only in 2008 that the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act was passed to require that services for mental health and substance use disorders are comparable and equitable to those of physical health care coverage,” Robinson noted. She said it was an important change that impacted the way clinicians are able to provide patient care.

This is part 1 of a 3-part series. Parts 2 and 3 will be linked to after being posted.

Dr Robinson  is assistant professor and director of the Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner specialty at the University of Maryland School of Nursing.