{"id":108369,"date":"2025-08-30T19:46:36","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T19:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/108369\/"},"modified":"2025-08-30T19:46:36","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T19:46:36","slug":"audit-finds-utah-families-struggling-with-ghost-providers-in-mental-health-care-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/108369\/","title":{"rendered":"Audit finds Utah families struggling with \u2018ghost providers\u2019 in mental health care"},"content":{"rendered":"

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) \u2014 A legislative audit<\/a> has uncovered a troubling gap in Utah\u2019s mental health care system, leaving families desperate for treatment for their children.<\/p>\n

The audit found that nearly 70% of providers listed in insurance directories are not actually accepting new patients. Lawmakers call them \u201cghost providers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey called up 180 providers in insurance directories and found out 69% of them were ghost providers, meaning they\u2019re not accepting patients,\u201d Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, said. \u201cThat\u2019s a false promise.\u201d<\/p>\n

For parents like Bobbi Lord, that false promise has had life-or-death consequences.<\/p>\n

MORE | Mental Health:<\/p>\n

Her 12-year-old daughter began talking about suicide last year. Despite working with her school on a 504 plan, Lord said her daughter\u2019s mental health spiraled.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried to work with teachers, and there\u2019s only so much that the schools can do,\u201d Lord said. \u201cWe finally got her in for a psychologist review, and she was diagnosed with severe depression, anxiety and ADHD.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her daughter was hospitalized before Christmas. She eventually entered a day treatment program, but insurance deemed her healthy after only four weeks.<\/p>\n

When asked if that was enough time, Lord said no.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were just trying to keep her alive for a month until the treatment program started,\u201d she said. \u201cThen, just as she was starting to benefit, it ended.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mental health professionals said the problem extends beyond ghost providers.<\/p>\n

MORE | 2News Investigates<\/p>\n

Dr. Douglas Goldsmith, a child psychologist, said many providers are choosing not to accept insurance at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cProviders are tired of the work it takes to bill insurance companies,\u201d Goldsmith said. \u201cI would say maybe half are still billing insurance, and probably half are choosing not to.\u201d<\/p>\n

That leaves families waiting weeks or months for help \u2014 if they can afford it at all.<\/p>\n

Lord said it took more than a month for her daughter to enter a treatment program, even after being hospitalized.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like it took me years to get some traction, somebody to help us,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to come up with plan B and C and D. I\u2019m back to where I don\u2019t know what to do next.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eliason said the Legislature is looking at ways to hold insurance companies accountable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re overpromising and under-delivering,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s extremely disheartening, especially if you have a child that\u2019s really suffering. There\u2019ll be more discussion about this going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

For parents like Lord, change can\u2019t come fast enough.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) \u2014 A legislative audit has uncovered a troubling gap in Utah\u2019s mental health care…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,2770,41850,56788,56787,84,5770,393,394,4791,1895],"class_list":{"0":"post-108369","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-children","11":"tag-crisis","12":"tag-families","13":"tag-ghost-providers","14":"tag-health","15":"tag-insurance","16":"tag-mental-health","17":"tag-mentalhealth","18":"tag-treatment","19":"tag-utah"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}