As I reviewed the last post, I neglected one way in which capitalist tendencies undermine the ability to find eating disorder treatment. The food, diet and health care industries collectively convince us to blame ourselves for any perceived shortcomings about food and body and then to purchase the wares to either remedy the problem or drown our sorrows. I neglected to mention the finance industry which cynically exploits mental illness for financial gain.
Many years ago, private equity companies bought up and expanded substance abuse treatment centers. Although the access to treatment centers improved, the intention of the industry growth was to create profitable enterprises to take advantage of health insurance benefits. Much of the data accumulated show how these clinics make unsubstantiated medical decisions to keep patients longer. The decision making process chose financial gain over patient well being.
The eating disorder treatment center model has started to look a lot like substance abuse treatment and became too tempting for the finance industry to ignore.
Residential treatment centers were, not long ago, places for intensive emotional work, soul searching and a safe place for people, primarily women, to find a path towards healing and recovery. Frequently, the programs were run by people who themselves had recovered from eating disorders and used their own personal experience combined with clinical knowledge to create centers with exceptional clinical care.
The rapid expansion of treatment programs by financial firms reeks of a quick grab for money. Although access to care had been a significant problem for years, opening many programs with poorly trained staff is not an improvement. The growth continues and the benefit from these programs decreases with each step while insurance money lines the private equity coffers. There isn’t enough focus on quality of care and too much focus on profit.
The limited benefit of residential programs makes the path towards recovery complicated. It’s harder to recommend residential programs than it used to be. Online outpatient programs have unclear value even though they do provide a needed service. Outpatient treatment is much easier to find but not sufficient for many people.
The problem of limited access has transformed into a struggle to find appropriate and educated providers. It is perhaps an improvement and also a sign of the times: medical care is increasingly driven by the patient, aka the consumer, who makes semi-educated decisions based on the limited information online. These are the overall trends in medical care but they are concerning for eating disorder treatment.
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