SOUTH PORTLAND — In Maine and the nation, societal problems caused by lack of access to adequate treatment services for people with mental illness and/or substance abuse is staggering. Uninsured people may languish in emergency departments or in the penal system. Even those with insurance may not have adequate coverage to appropriately treat their disorder. To add to these barriers, privacy laws may complicate options to help family members receive mental health or addiction treatment.

The stigma associated with mental illness and substance abuse has heavily influenced the public policies that govern the delivery of and payment for treatment of these illnesses. We are fortunate in Maine to have a leader on the national stage like Sen. Susan Collins, who understands this huge gap in treatment options. Earlier this year, Collins spoke at a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, praising efforts to to improve access to care by allowing Medicaid to cover short-term stays at free-standing mental health facilities.

Known in government lingo as “IMDs,” or “institutes of mental disease,” hospitals like Spring Harbor Hospital in Westbrook and Acadia Hospital in Bangor – as well as the two state hospitals in Augusta and Bangor – are excluded from Medicaid payments for patients ages 21 to 64 who are enrolled in the program, leaving states to pick up the entire cost.

During the hearing, Collins spoke about rural states like Maine, where patients often lack access to the care they need and how federal policies like these only exacerbate the problem of accessing the right care at the right place at the right time. She described the huge disparity between federal reimbursement policies for medical care versus mental health care as “stunning in this day and age – not to mention the impact of increasing the burden on patients who are low income and lack coverage.”

Maine has seen promising results from an earlier pilot initiative co-sponsored in 2009 by Collins and then-Sen. Olympia Snowe, “An Act to Improve Access to Emergency Psychiatric Care.” This bill allowed Medicaid to provide matching funds to 12 states – including Maine – for mental health services that were not previously covered.

The results strongly demonstrated the positive impact of more timely care and linkages created between the community behavioral health providers and hospitals at the point of the first contact with the health system. Given the seemingly escalating tragedies we see weekly in the national news, it is not surprising that access to timely diagnosis and early intervention for people with mental illness can save hundreds of thousands of lives – and tax dollars as well.

According to “Substance Abuse Trends in Maine,” a 2015 report, “Co-occurring disorders – both mental illness and substance abuse – account for nearly 60 percent of people seeking addiction treatment.” Providing support to communities to expand treatment, prevention, law enforcement and recovery efforts is another Collins initiative. She has also stressed the importance of addressing pain medication and prescribing practices – nearly 80 percent of heroin users reported that their addictions started with misused prescription pain medications (often pills that were prescribed for someone else).

Recognizing the significant shortage of inpatient beds, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services recently provided funding to Spring Harbor to reopen 12 beds for the treatment of adult psychiatric patients. Access to more beds will decrease lengths of stay in emergency departments and provide more access to necessary short-term acute psychiatric care for people with mental illness and co-occurring disorders (mental illness and substance misuse).

Increasing numbers of health care studies demonstrate the direct correlation between mental illness, substance abuse and health conditions. Patients with any mental health disorder and diabetes, for example, have significantly higher inpatient and outpatient costs compared to patients without a mental health diagnosis.

Communication among medical and behavioral providers is imperative to effect change – treating the whole patient with integrated care not only makes sense, but also will improve the delivery of care, the quality of care and the unsustainable cost of care.

By advocating for improved payment policies, officials like Collins are making strides toward breaking down the barriers created by stigma and improving access to necessary mental health and addiction treatment for Maine people. Reducing stigma and increasing awareness will provide the clarity we need to reach a hopeful future with affordable access to care for everyone.

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