February 19, 2007

OPEN MINDS Announces Creation of National Task Force on Consumer Access to Emerging Neurotechnologies

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania – OPEN MINDS announced today the formation of the National Task Force on Consumer Access to Emerging Neurotechnologies. The task force will be a voluntary group of stakeholders in the health and human services field who are interested in assuring appropriate and equitable access to emerging neurotechnologies for all consumers with mental health, behavioral health, and neurological conditions. The focus of the task force will be:

• To increase understanding within the payer, provider, and consumer advocacy communities of available new neurotechnologies

• To promote standardized clinical decision making criteria, consumer access, and reimbursement policies for appropriate neurotechnologies

• To promote parity and equity in consumer access to new technologies for treatment of these conditions

“As executives and policymakers in the field are aware, there are a wide range of new technologies that will soon be available to consumers to address mental health, neurological, and intellectual disability problems. But, it is likely that these new treatments won’t have the maximum clinical or financial impact that they could, because of both a lack of standardized payer policies to assess the appropriateness of the technologies, and challenges facing service provider organizations in adapting these new technologies to their clinical and administrative management structures,” said Monica E. Oss, Chief Executive Officer of OPEN MINDS. “To proactively address these pending challenges, our team at OPEN MINDS has created the National Task Force on Consumer Access to Emerging Neurotechnologies.”

The OPEN MINDS team has organized a founding group of twenty Task Force members and holding an initial organizing meeting on February 15th in Washington, D.C. to discuss some of the issues facing the field in the adoption of new technologies and to look at the first group of emerging technologies, those focused on the treatment of depression. The founding members will discuss and direct the initial work of the task force, which is likely to include:

• Creation of models for understanding the economic value (and cost/benefit) of consumer access to neurotechnologies

• Development of prototypes for creating payer-specific evaluation criteria and clinical criteria for new neurotechnologies

• Creation of policy and position statements on reimbursement of and access to new neurotechnologies

The launch meeting will feature five presentations, including the following:

• “Research on the treatment of depression, the STAR-D research, and its implications for individuals with depression” and “Review of current and emerging interventions for treatment-resistant depression” by Madhukar H. Trivedi, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Lydia Bryant Test Professorship in Psychiatric Research Director, Mood Disorders Research Program & Clinic Co-PI NIMH Depression Trials Network, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School
• “Current practice in evaluation of treatment interventions for individuals with chronic diseases” by Susan D. Horn, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Institute for Clinical Outcomes Research, Vice President, Research, International Severity Information Systems, Inc.
• “The Cost of Treatment-Resistant Depression” by Lawrence J. Cohen, Pharm.D., B.C.P.P., F.A.S.H.P., F.C.C.P., Professor Pharmacotherapy, Washington State University College of Pharmacy, Assistant Director for Psychopharmacology Research and Training, Washington Institute for Mental Illness Research and Training
• “Overview of emerging neurotechnologies entering the marketplace” by John O’Reardon, M.D., Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania

The launch meeting of the National Task Force on Consumer Access to Emerging Neurotechnologies has been made possible by initial sponsorship secured by OPEN MINDS from Cyberonics, Inc. OPEN MINDS is in the process of securing grants from other organizations in the neurotechnology field and, once the Task Force’s founding members have helped to finalize the key issues for the next couple years, OPEN MINDS plans to apply for grant funding to further these initiatives.

To date, eighteen of the initial twenty founding members are confirmed:

• Susan Bergeson, President, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA)

• Lawrence J. Cohen, Pharm.D., B.C.P.P., F.A.S.H.P., F.C.C.P., Professor Pharmacotherapy, Washington State University College of Pharmacy & Assistant Director for Psychopharmacology Research and Training, Washington Institute for Mental Illness Research and Training

• Darin Dougherty, M.D., Massachusetts General Hospital

• Alan Ettinger, M.D., Director, Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, Long Island Jewish Medical Center

• Michael Golinkoff, Ph.D., National Clinical Director, Aetna Behavioral Health

• Roger Haskett, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

• Susan D. Horn, Ph.D., Senior Scientist and Vice President of Research, International Severity Information Systems, Inc., Institute for Clinical Outcomes Research

• Leighton Huey, M.D., University of Connecticut Medical Center

• Pamela Mazerski, Associate Commissioner, Office of Program Development and Research, Social Security Administration

• Dennis Morrison, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, Center for Behavioral Health

• Lawrence J. Nardozzi, M.M.M, M.D., D.F.A.P.A., C.P.E., Vice President and National Psychiatric Officer, Magellan Health Services

• Steven Newman, Executive Director, NAMI D.C.

• Monica E. Oss, Chief Executive Officer, OPEN MINDS

• Stanley Pearson, M.D., Chief Medical Director and CMO, CIGNA Healthcare

• Charles Ray, M.Ed., Treasurer and Board of Directors, World Federation for Mental Health

• Rhonda Robinson-Beale, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, United Behavioral Healthcare/PacifiCare Behavioral Health

• James Slayton, M.D., Medical Director, United Behavioral Healthcare/PacifiCare Behavioral Health

• Madhukar H. Trivedi, M.D., Lydia Bryant Test Professorship in Psychiatric Research Director, Mood Disorders Research Program & Clinic Co-PI NIMH Depression Trials Network, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School

OPEN MINDS is a national behavioral health and social service industry market research and management consulting firm. Founded in 1987 and based in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the more than 75 associates of OPEN MINDS provide information services, executive education, market research, and management consultation services. The firm's mission is to provide behavioral health and social service payers, consumer associations, and service providers with the management knowledge needed to improve their efficiency and effectiveness in order to better serve consumers.

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