Jason Miller
Before joining The Bridgeway in December 2011 as COO, Jason Miller served as director of hospital operations at the Living Hope Institute in Little Rock and in various roles at Arkansas Children’s Hospital and CHI St. Vincent Health System. He was named CEO in 2014.
The 41-year-old has a bachelor’s degree from Hendrix College in Conway and a master’s in public health with an emphasis on health education and administration from Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine.
What is the typical relationship between mental illnesses and the workplace? How involved are employers in the lives of your patients?
Mental health is handled very differently across the workforce spectrum. Some employers offer employee assistance programs and have robust insurance plans that include mental health coverage, while others have very limited or no mental health focus. We often encounter individuals at The Bridgeway who are fearful of their employer knowing about their treatment, even though there are laws in place to protect them in the workforce.
The very best programs are those that treat mental disorders with the same importance as physical conditions. Our patients who work in supportive work environments have much better outcomes after treatment.
Has the stigma of serious mental health issues lessened?
Yes and no. While mental health conditions are discussed more in the mainstream these days, there are still many misconceptions about those disorders and about the people who deal with them each day.
Unfortunately, many Americans do not understand mental health and its impact on your body, mind and soul. As a result, there is still a great deal of stigma surrounding the symptoms and the treatments prescribed to help those suffering from mental health conditions.
What would you like to see be done politically?
First, we need to continue to advance parity for mental health — true parity. The Mental Health Parity & Addiction Equity Act was passed in 2008, and it still isn’t clear how this legislation should be implemented and enforced. There is still a gap between how we treat mental health versus physical health. Mental illness is a diagnosable condition just like cancer and diabetes and should be treated as such.
Second, we need to use our laws to improve access to mental health treatment. Currently, thousands of adults with Medicaid cannot choose treatment at a free-standing behavioral health hospital.
And finally, and maybe the most significant, is the concept of simply listening to those who provide care and receive care. Before laws are crafted and bills are debated on the chamber floor, providers and patients can offer insights that are invaluable.
What are the biggest mental health myths?
One of the most pressing is the link to mental health and violence. While it is true that some incidents of violence are committed by those who have mental health issues, it is far from true that people with mental illness always commit violent acts. Studies show that those with mental illness commit no more violence than the general public.
Another misconception is that suicide affects a small number of people when, in fact, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death for all Americans, the second leading cause of death for adults ages 25-34 and the third leading cause of death for youth ages 15-24. Most of the individuals we treat in our hospital have seriously considered suicide as a way out of life’s problems. Treatment proves that we still save many more lives than we lose.
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