LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (WDRB) — Kentucky advocates work to raise awareness about the symptoms, treatment options, and resources available to those battling eating disorders.
Dr. Andrea Krause of Norton Children’s Hospital said he sees some of the “sickest patients” when it comes to children and teens battling eating disorders who end up in hospital.
“A lot of research needs to be done to know that eating disorders are so prevalent. “Every case is different, but I’ve definitely seen very young 9, 10, 11 year olds with very restrictive eating disorders.”
In 2020, KRS 210.051 established the Kentucky Eating Disorders Council within the Health and Family Services Cabinet. Krause, who chairs the council, said the group is working to foster education for providers in the state, work on research and come up with ideas for future legislation to help patients.
Kentucky does not currently have a residency program for people with eating disorders, and many patients have to travel out of state for the life-saving care they need.
“Children are at a disadvantage because the state does not have residential treatment facilities for eating disorders,” she said.
According to the National Eating Disorders Association, levels of care range from inpatient (where patients are medically unstable), residential facilities, partial hospital care, and intensive outpatient/outpatient care.
Sheri Levinson, founder of the Louisville Eating Disorder Center and part of the Kentucky Eating Disorders Council, said the Louisville Eating Disorder Center is the state’s only partial hospital program and intensive outpatient clinic. She said that while virtual options for care have been added since the outbreak of the pandemic, resources are still limited in Kentucky, especially for those living in rural areas. rice field.
“We have people in our program from all over West Kentucky, East Kentucky,” says Levinson.
The center sees hundreds of patients each week, she said, and often encourages people to travel out of state for more advanced treatment, like residential programs.
“Generally, there are large gaps in rural states where most of the treatment centers are concentrated in large cities or along the East or West coasts,” she said.
Erin Duragan-Jones said she was familiar with this experience. Her teenage daughter, Emerson, was diagnosed with anorexia in early 2021. After being hospitalized in Louisville to improve her physical health, Emerson went to Arizona, where her residency program allowed her to receive treatment for six weeks.
“Louisville, Kentucky is generally resource deficient,” Jones said. “Sending your child away is one of the worst things I’ve ever had to do to him.”
Norton Children’s Hospital in downtown Louisville (WDRB photo).
Jones said this affected the whole family.
“It’s scary. It’s really scary. It’s scary to see them go through it,” she said. I know.”
The number of cases surged from 37 in 2018 to 136 in 2022, according to data from Norton Children’s Hospital, and is increasing every year.
In March, WDRB News learned that a Jefferson County public school plans to sue a social media company for the negative impact the social media platform has had on students.JCPS said the media platform’s algorithm Promotes harmful content such as violence, eating disorders, and self-harm.
“I want better care,” Jones said. “I mean, these kids need it. I work on social media for a particular client, but I want social media to go away.
Krause said eating disorder cases were on the rise before the pandemic, but pandemic-related isolation, social media use, and pressure on children and teens have all contributed to these rising numbers. I think it’s making an impact.
In addition to worrying about her child’s health, Ms Jones said the disease would also take a toll financially. It is a thing.
“Well, here’s the kicker. Insurance won’t cover most of this cost,” Jones said. “The cost to parents and families is exponentially high.”
According to Jones, bills can be as high as $150,000, with some facilities charging more than $1,000 per day for treatment. She said that treating eating disorders requires a team of professionals, including doctors, nutritionists, therapists and others.
“I would invest in children in any way I could to save them,” Jones said. “I mean, we didn’t even question it. We just said, ‘We’re going to figure it out.'”
Krause and others at the Kentucky Eating Disorders Council advocate providing more resources in the state for patients. She attributes much of the resource gap and the lack of residency programs in Kentucky to insurance reimbursement rates.
“…whether private insurance or public assistance, reimbursement rates in Kentucky are much lower compared to other states closer to us,” Krause said. So it’s frustrating. You know what they need and how to help them, but you can’t get there because of finances.”
Levinson agrees, saying training also plays a role.
“I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that eating disorders aren’t really perceived as a big enough problem,” Levinson said. I mean, it’s really hard to get well-trained people who are trained to do therapy to come to our state and stay in our state. We need specialized training in order to be able to develop programs. It is very difficult to retain providers with such training. And the third is reimbursement rates, so private insurance companies. and state-based insurance companies often pay very low premiums for eating disorder services, even though they require highly complex treatment by a highly trained team of professionals. Therefore, low reimbursement rates do not attract providers.
Elisabeth Altankara, director of education for the National Eating Disorders Association, said Kentucky has fewer resources than neighboring states Tennessee, Illinois and Ohio. She said it’s difficult to keep track of the exact number of residential treatment facilities across the country because it often changes each time a new one opens. was repeated.
“For the most part, residential treatment centers tend to be in populated areas,” she said. “We know California has a lot — big states like California —[and]New York has some.”
Krause believes that it takes a combination of factors to truly make change over time.
“Increasing resources and giving children more options regardless of their insurance background, where they can be sent, whether rural or urban, increasing access to all care, or whether it is residential. Whether it’s therapeutic or outpatient, I have hope,” Krause said. “Ideally, in fact, what we want to tackle on the preventive side of this is to catch these diseases when they start showing up.
She said she remains an advocate for patients.
Click here for more information about the Kentucky Eating Disorders Council. Click here for Norton Children’s Hospital information.
If you or a loved one is struggling with an eating disorder, click here for resources to visit the National Eating Disorders Association website.
Individuals can also call or text the National Eating Disorders Association Helpline at 800-931-2237.
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