Friday, November 2, 2007 New Colo. law may ease treatment for eating disorders Denver Business Journal - by Bob Mook Denver Business Journal Dr. Carolyn Ross, medical director at the Eating Disorders Center of Denver, sits in a group meeting room. Americans' mixed messages about food, nutrition and body image are creating a boom in the eating disorders industry. And Colorado, held up by national surveys as the thinnest state in the country, apparently is no exception. Dr. Carolyn Ross, medical director at the Eating Disorders Center of Denver, estimated the privately held outpatient clinic treated 14 percent more patients in 2006 than it did the previous year -- and she expects more double-digit growth this year. Ross said the Eating Disorders Center will draw even more business when Senate Bill 36, a new Colorado law that requires health insurers to pay for mental health care the same way they cover physical illnesses, goes into effect in January. Although the center has contracts with most of Colorado's major insurance companies, Ross said the new law makes it possible for patients who couldn't afford treatment to get reimbursements from their insurance companies. Currently, about 70 percent of the center's clients get some kind of compensation from health insurance companies for treatment. "We used to treat mostly white, upper-class girls, but now we're seeing males and females, of all ages, races and social classes," Ross said. Although it's characterized as a mental illness, the physical symptoms of anorexia can be deadly. Ross said anorexia has the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses -- including substance abuse. With demand growing, Ross said the Eating Disorders Center may expand to other parts of the Front Range. Toni Saiber, executive director of Denver's Eating Disorders Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing and eliminating eating disorders through educational resources and support groups, said she believes that Colorado needs a full-service inpatient eating disorders unit targeted for adults. "We've had a war on obesity for the last 50 years and we're more obese than ever," Ross said. "Obviously, we're not winning." "There are strong messages in our culture about youth, beauty and fitness," Saiber said. "Kids can suffer a lot of self-loathing if they don't meet the standards." In what may be indicative of the problem in Colorado, Saiber said she's in high demand from educators throughout the state to talk to high school students about eating disorders. Saiber said she has suffered from anorexia since her early 30s and nearly died from the disease. After undergoing an outpatient treatment program at the University of Iowa Hospital's department of psychiatry, Saiber continued her recovery at the Eating Disorders Center. Depending on the nature of the eating disorder, it could take anywhere from 30 to 90 days for patients to complete treatment at the center, which costs an average of $800 a day. By comparison, Ross said, treatment at an inpatient facility, where patients stay at the facility for weeks at a time, may cost as much as $1,400 a day. Ross said the Eating Disorders Center uses a "partial hospital" model that immerses patients into the program 11 hours a day, seven days a week. The first objective of the program is to get patients eating, since malnutrition can be the root of depression and "cognitive dysfunction," Ross said. Prior to joining the Eating Disorders Center in September, Ross developed an eating disorders program at Sierra Tucson, a high-end residential rehabilitation facility outside of Tucson, Ariz.
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