AMA Applauds California's Groundbreaking Mental Health Reform Law

CHICAGO, Illinois, Sept. 29 -- The American Medical Association issued the following news release on Sept. 28:

The American Medical Association (AMA) today applauded California Governor Gavin Newsom and the sponsors of the state's new mental health reform law, Senate Bill 855, which will require all health insurers and behavioral health management organizations to rely on evidence-based treatment guidelines developed by physicians and health care professionals--and not financial considerations.

These new state reforms go into effect on January 1, 2021. Governor Newsom signed the bill Friday, September 25 after near-unanimous votes in the California Assembly and Senate.

"This law sets a new precedent for all other states to protect patients with a mental illness or substance use disorder," said Patrice A. Harris, M.D., M.A., AMA immediate past president and chair of the AMA Opioid Task Force. "Not having to fight insurance companies to use the generally accepted standards of care for our patients will improve treatment and save lives."

The law adopts some of the most important findings of the court in Wit v. United Behavioral Healthcare, where a federal court last year issued a scathing rebuke to United Behavioral Health (UBH) for placing the payer's financial interests over the safety and well-being of patients from 2011-2017 across four states: Connecticut, Illinois, Rhode Island and Texas. Whereas the Wit decision only applied to UBH, the reforms contained in SB 855 will apply to all health insurers in California.