MENTAL HEALTH

According to the 2018 National Survey on Drug Use & Health, 47.6 million adults in America age 18 and older had some form of mental illness. Of those, 9.2 million also had a substance use disorder, which is nearly half of the total number of people struggling with addiction. It cannot be denied that there is a high rate of co-occurring mental health illnesses in the population of people struggling with substance use disorders.

Unfortunately, there are several barriers to care for patients in this situation. Accessibility is limited by:

• Stigma associated with having a mental illness

• Transportation challenges

• Affordability of services and medications

• Subsequent instability leading to incarceration

• Lack of insurance or sufficient mental health benefits

• Cumbersome insurance authorization processes

• Inadequate network of providers

• Providers restricting patient panels for certain payors (i.e. Medicaid)

Due to these ongoing challenges, Sunrise pursued and achieved certification in 2018 to provide additional mental health services in-house to our substance use disorder patients with co-occurring mental health diagnoses. By combining the expertise of our medical team with our qualified mental health clinicians, we have significantly reduced these barriers to care. Such a holistic approach significantly improves patient health and well-being by providing the additional care necessary for them to be stable in treatment and make progress on their treatment goals.

Sunrise is always looking for community providers to collaborate with and refer to in order to assist our patients in maintaining their mental health care long term.