Improving Access to Effective Care for People with Mental Health and Substance Abuse Disorder

This paper discusses the issue of poor accessibility to health services for people with mental health and substance abuse disorder and policy recommendations suggested by NAM to solve the issue. It also highlights the role of nurses in addressing the issue and the need for proper infrastructure to enable them to provide effective care.

Running head: LEADERSHIP IN HEALTH POLICY
Leadership in health policy
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

1LEADERSHIP IN HEALTH POLICY
Answer 1
The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) has identified ‘Improving access to effective
care for people who have mental health and substance abuse disorder’ as one of the health and
health care priorities. The main rational for this is prevalence of mental health and substance
abuse disorder in American adults. 18.1% of adults living in U.S experience some form of
mental disorder and the total health care expenditure on mental health and substance abuse
disorder was $201 billion. Furthermore, several barriers to service delivery such as fragmented
health care system and poorly distributed workforce creates challenges for people with mental
health and substance abuse disorder in accessing primary and preventive care (Knickman et al.,
2016). Due to this issue, improving access to health service is necessary.
Answer 2
After identification of the issue of poor accessibility to health services for people with
mental health and substance abuse disorder, NAM specified several key facilitators as policy
recommendations to solve the issue. The list of specific policy recommendations suggested by
NAM includes the following:
 Nam recommended development of payment approaches that address cost of managing
patients and
 It suggested focusing on individual therapeutic approaches and counseling for substance
abuse people that has favorable effect on the lives of people.
 As poor training of staffs was also an issue, investment on diversifying technology and
developing more efficient team approach was also proposed (Knickman et al., 2016).

2LEADERSHIP IN HEALTH POLICY
 Modifications in health care models were also propose to develop a culture of shared
accountability and promote integration of services.
Answer 3
Nurse can also address the issue of accessibility to health and health care for mental
health and people with substance abuse disorder by taking part in skill development and training
program that increases their skills in providing effective care to people coming from diverse
cultural group. They can learns the skills to provide evidence bases care and participate in large
numbers for receiving training in screening and diagnosing substance abuse disorder. Advance
education and training regarding behavioral therapy and skills will help to integrate care within
diverse health care team (Substance, Mental & Office of the Surgeon General, 2016). Proper
infrastructure is also needed to enable nurse to provide substance abuse disorder with the same
sensitivity and care as any other chronic health condition (Yesufu-Udechuku et al., 2015).

3LEADERSHIP IN HEALTH POLICY
Reference:
Knickman, J., Krishnan, K. R. R., Pincus, H. H., Blanco, C., Blazer, D. G., Coye, M. J., ... &
Vitiello, B. (2016). Improving Access to Effective Care for People Who Have Mental
Health and Substance Use Disorders. Discussion Paper, Vital Directions for Health and
Health Care Series. National Academy of Medicine, Washington, DC. https://nam.
edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/improving-access-to-effective-care-for-people-who-
have-mentalhealth-and-substance-use-disorders. pdf.
Substance, A., Mental, H. S. A. U., & Office of the Surgeon General (US. (2016). Facing
addiction in America: The Surgeon General's report on alcohol, drugs, and health.
Yesufu-Udechuku, A., Harrison, B., Mayo-Wilson, E., Young, N., Woodhams, P., Shiers, D., ...
& Kendall, T. (2015). Interventions to improve the experience of caring for people with
severe mental illness: systematic review and meta-analysis. The British Journal of
Psychiatry, 206(4), 268-274.