Dr. Sid Khurana on Nevada’s Low Mental Health Rankings

Dr. Sid Khurana M.D. recently appeared on the HEALS Pod podcast in an episode titled: Community and Care: Addressing Mental Health Challenges in Las Vegas.

The show is hosted by Diego Trujillo, CEO of Las Vegas HEALS (Health, Education, Advocacy, and Leadership), a nonprofit whose mission is to foster collaboration and alliances in the healthcare community to improve patient outcomes.

In the episode, Khurana shed light on why he founded Nevada Mental Health, innovative treatments, and how our community can work together to improve Nevada’s low mental health ranking.

Trujillo opened the show by asking Khurana what inspired him to launch Nevada Mental Health, now one of the largest psychiatric practices in the state. The idea actually came from an exchange the psychiatrist had with a handyman who had a family member that needed a psychiatrist who accepted insurance.

Khurana realized that in Nevada, psychiatric care is quite accessible for the wealthy and indigent. However, “the 90% in the middle” don’t have many options for finding a psychiatrist who accepted insurance, he said. So, he and Dr. Timothy Jeider M.D. set out to serve that large need by starting Nevada Mental Health.

A large and growing psychiatric practice like Nevada Mental Health helps chips away at the access to care issue that burdens the state. However, in order to improve Nevada’s low mental health ranking, Khurana also said there needs to be greater access to “quality care,” which he further defined as providers who don’t double-book, who accept insurance, and are trained to evaluate patients thoroughly and get buy-in from them, while not turning to medication too quickly.

Providing quality care also means staying at the forefront of innovation. Nevada Mental Health, for example, recently began offering FDA-approved Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). In the podcast, Khurana explained the role electrical pathways in the brain play in our ability to navigate emotions and decisions.

“Electricity is the language of the brain,” he elaborated. “Our brain is made up of nerve cells that connect with each other and the way information goes from one nerve to the next is through an electric signal. The brain actually has enough energy to light up a 40-watt bulb.”

Certain electrical pathways become compromised in patients with OCD, depression or addiction problems. TMS is proven technology to activate neural networks in these patients and is effective for those who do not respond to traditional depression, OCD and addiction therapies.

“With TMS, we followed the science. Once the literature was there and FDA approvals came in, we wanted to make sure our patients had access to this treatment,” Khurana added.

Doing better than that 51st ranking in the country for mental health prevalence and access to care requires all hands on deck, Khurana further emphasized. That means getting patients, providers and payers (insurers) talking in committees and discussion groups to create alignment on issues such as reimbursements and administrative improvements to improve access to care. He also acknowledged that quality care needs to be delivered in a financially sustainable way, and that payers don’t need to be vilified, but seen instead as partners in creating a better future.

“Insurance companies do want people healthier. People want to be healthier, and how we get there, there may be a difference of opinion, but finger-pointing is easy. It’s also about accountability and asking ‘how can we do this differently?’” he said.

In addition, continuing to expand the provider base is critical. That will require both educating future mental health professionals, training them, and creating an attractive value proposition for professionals recruited from out of state. “We need to be a community where they (providers) will want to stay and live a balanced life,” Khurana added.

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