By Jeremy Loudenback, The Imprint, July 29, 2021
Under a sweeping plan created by California’s health agency, the state has proposed solutions to longstanding challenges for low-income parents that include improved access to an array of pediatric mental health services — before children reach a crisis state.
Current state policy requires a diagnosis for clinicians in California to treat a child receiving Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid. For children with complex mental health conditions that require observation over time and a battery of tests — and absent clearly diagnosable symptoms — psychiatrists and therapists cannot bill for services.
According to mental health experts who are critics of the state’s restrictive policy, that often leaves children with profound histories of trauma waiting for services or interventions for far too long.
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