Mental Healthcare Summit Coming to San Diego

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Procopio and the University of San Diego (USD) School of Law announced today the inaugural health care summit, Overcoming Barriers to Mental Health Care. The one-day event will be held on Thursday, January 12, 2017 at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice on the USD campus.

Overcoming Barriers to Mental Health Care will bring together scholars, health care leaders, health care attorneys and other experts for a first-ever summit to examine the legal, financial, systemic and cultural barriers which operate every day to deny access to patients in need of behavioral health services. The agenda addresses topics including a description of the current landscape for stakeholders in behavioral health, federal, state and local government efforts to address the challenges, a perspective from health care providers responsible for providing mental health services and an exploration of innovation in the delivery of mental health services.

"According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in four adults and one in five children experience mental illness in any given year. Unfortunately, over half of the patients requiring mental health services go without treatment," said Richard Barton, Procopio Partner and Health Care Practice Group Leader. "This event will examine from multiple perspectives the forces that work against patients accessing essential services and the efforts to overcome the significant challenges.  We are honored to partner with the USD School of Law on this summit and look forward to helping make a difference in this critical area and giving back to the communities we support."

Legal scholar, author and mental health-policy advocate Dr. Elyn Saks will keynote the summit. Dr. Saks is the Orrin B. Evans Professor of Law, Psychology, and Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences and Director of the Saks Institute for Mental Health Law, Policy and Ethics at the USC Gould School of Law. Dr. Saks' internationally praised autobiography The Center Cannot Hold chronicled her struggle with chronic schizophrenia and her lifelong commitment to advocating for those affected by mental illness.

The impressive roster of speakers also includes: 

• Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, Director and Professor of Clinical Internal Medicine at the UC Davis Center for Reducing Health Disparities
• Meiram Bendat, MA, PhD, JD, national authority on the enforcement of federal and state "parity laws" for mental health services
• Dov Fox, Associate Professor of Law and Director, Center of Health Law Policy and Bioethics at the University of San Diego
• John Fromson, MD, Vice Chair, Community Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Chief of Psychiatry at Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital
• Dan Gross, Executive Vice President and Board Member of the California Health Care Foundation at Sharp Healthcare 
• James LaBelle, MD, Executive Vice President at Scripps Health
• Maggie Merritt, Executive Director at the Steinberg Institute
• Michael Plopper, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital
• Hon. Robert J. Trentacosta, San Diego's Juvenile Court co-founder of San Diego Mental Health Court
• Lisa Weinreb, San Diego County District Attorney, Asst. Chief, Juvenile Division, Board Member, Mental Health America and Founder, The International Bipolar Foundation. 

For more information and to register for the event, visit Procopio.com/mentalhealthcaresummit2017.

Procopio is a full-service business and litigation law firm committed to thoughtful problem solving and improving your bottom line.  With more than 150 attorneys based in San Diego, Silicon Valley, Phoenix and Austin–we're passionate about knowing your business, helping you grow, and protecting it for the long term.  Procopio has the flexible infrastructure to support both small to mid-sized companies and large multinationals at every stage of the business life cycle.  Our global reach across Asia and Latin America further expands our international partnerships and cross-border capabilities.  At Procopio, we are focused on what is important to you–providing smart, innovative and practical solutions in a cost-effective manner to help your business thrive.  Learn more at Procopio.com.