Master Healer Pankaj Naram discusses recent study on the integration of mental and health care

Dr. Pankaj Naram says mental and physical health are very important.

While healthcare leaders continue to push for better integration between mental health and physical medicine, a recent report from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation shows the goal as will not be reached soon.

The connection between mental health and physical health has long been espoused by Master Healer Pankaj Naram. Master Healer Pankaj Naram is an authority in Ancient Siddha-Veda Secrets. He, too, advocates for better integration of care for mental and physical health.

According to the Blue Cross Blue Shield study, there are many in the medical field who believe patients would be more likely to get mental healthcare or substance abuse treatment if their primary care doctor’s office offered those services.

Unfortunately, according to the report, current government regulations create barriers for integrating behavioral health with primary care because the archaic rules surrounding licensing, privacy, and insurance reimbursement. As the report states, “the requirements conflict, overlap, and duplicate one another, making it very difficult to navigate among the various requirements to create an integrated program.”

According to the report, even worse, various government offices have their own interpretations of the regulations, which makes it a challenge for care providers to understand the specific requirements that must be met to establish an integrated service model. Barriers include a burdensome licensing process; different regulatory requirements for mental health providers and community health centers; different architectural requirements; and separate staffing requirements. The report shows there are also legal barriers – privacy and confidentiality laws at both state and federal levels – to the exchange of information between mental health and substance abuse counselors and primary care providers.

Another issue is that patients who want to visit the same office on the same day for separate visits usually have their claims denied by their insurance companies — even if one of their appointments is for physical health and the other appointment is for mental health.

While many things can seem complicated, Master Healer Pankaj Naram said that the truth is simple. Physical and mental health are connected, and people can see improvement in preventing problems in either area as soon as they take more responsibility for something as simple as what food they keep in their kitchen and put in their mouth. Diet and exercise choices can have a big impact on both mental and physical well being and balance.