Details of New York State's Northeast Center of Excellence for Treatment of Eating Disorders Revealed

ALBANY, N.Y., Dec. 8  /PRNewswire/ -- Details of the new Northeast Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders (NECCCED) were revealed today at a NECCCED and PacifiCare Behavioral Health (PBH) co-sponsored continuing education conference on the treatment of eating disorders at the Desmond Hotel in Albany.

NECCCED, in collaboration with New York State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, is in the final stages of contracting for a grant from the New York State Department of Health to establish the Center of Excellence.

More than 80 participants from Northeastern New York attended the conference to receive training for treating individuals with eating disorders and to learn more about the Center of Excellence, anticipated to open in early 2006 in Albany.  Presenters representing the Center of Excellence included Sen. Bruno; Sharon Alger-Mayer, M.D., NECCCED medical director; and Robert Greenbaum, Ph.D., NECCCED executive director.  Edward Jones, Ph.D., PacifiCare Behavioral Health's vice president and chief clinical officer, opened and moderated the event.  Dr. Jones is considered an expert in behavioral health clinical outcomes measurement, a key component for successfully treating people with eating disorders.

"Eating disorders are devastating physical and emotional illnesses, and unfortunately, at a national level there are few Centers of Excellence providing state of the art care," said Dr. Jones.  "PacifiCare Behavioral Health co-sponsored this event with NECCCED because we want to see innovative Centers of Excellence like this one established nationally."

Sen. Bruno spoke about what the Center of Excellence will offer people in the region.

"We all know someone who has been affected by an eating disorder. Diseases like anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder are an epidemic in today's society, and these physically and emotionally damaging conditions are potentially life-threatening," said Sen. Bruno.  "The Senate Majority led the way to pass legislation to establish Comprehensive Care Centers for Eating Disorders so that the people who are affected by these devastating diseases can get the expert treatment that was previously unavailable in New York State.  This Center will save lives and provide relief and hope for those who suffer from one of these destructive diseases."

The Center of Excellence will include individual health and psychosocial services, inpatient medical care, inpatient psychiatric care, outpatient medical and psychiatric care, rehabilitation, residential treatment, case management and community education.

"As the first Center of its kind in Northeastern New York State, we will be able to dramatically improve services for people with eating disorders in the region," said Dr. Geenbaum.  "People will no longer have to travel out of state to receive care."

After the presentations on the Center of Excellence, participants received training on the treatment of eating disorders.  The training included a presentation from an internationally renowned eating disorders expert, David Herzog, M.D., director of the Harvard Center for Eating Disorders.  Other eating disorder specialists also presented case studies on the subject.

According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, an estimated seven million women and one million men suffer from eating disorders nationwide.

About the Northeast Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders

Albany Medical Center, in collaboration with Four Winds Hospital in Saratoga Springs, and Bellevue Woman's Hospital in Niskayuna, partnered to create the Northeast Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders (NECCCED). NECCCED was selected by the New York State Department of Health as a Comprehensive Care Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders as part of legislation signed into law in 2004.

Albany Medical Center consists of one of the state's largest teaching hospitals, the Albany Medical Center Hospital, and one of the nation's oldest private medical schools, the Albany Medical College.  Four Winds Saratoga Hospital provides a broad range of inpatient and outpatient mental health treatment services for children, adolescents and adults.  Bellevue Woman's Hospital is one of only two nonprofit specialty hospitals in the United States concentrating on health services for women.

About PacifiCare Behavioral Health

PacifiCare Behavioral Health, Inc. provides mental health, chemical dependency and employee assistance services to covered members and maintains a national network of behavioral health care practitioners.  All PacifiCare Behavioral Health service centers hold three-year, Full Accreditation from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), as well as URAC Health Utilization Management and Case Management Accreditation.  PacifiCare Behavioral Health is a wholly owned subsidiary of PacifiCare Health Systems (NYSE:PHS), with clients including health plans, union trust funds, employers, school districts and public sector agencies.  More information on PacifiCare Behavioral Health can be obtained at http://www.pbhi.com/.

  CONTACT:
  Jill Armisto                        Brad Lotterman, APR
  NECCCED                             PacifiCare Behavioral Health
  [phone]x 3311                [phone]
        

  Dan Miller
  PacifiCare Health Systems
  [phone]
  

Behavioral Health

DATASOURCE: Northeast Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders; PacifiCare



CONTACT:  Jill Armisto of NECCCED, [phone], ext. 3311; or Brad

Lotterman, APR of PacifiCare Behavioral Health, [phone],

; or Dan Miller of PacifiCare Health Systems,

[phone], 



Web site:  http://www.pbhi.com/ 

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