Advancing Public Policies for People with Mental Illness, Chemical Dependency or Developmental Disabilities
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Outside the City, New York's Youth Defendants Detained Far from Home
When defense attorney Michael Perehinec's 16-year-old client was arrested in New York's Tompkins County last spring, the judge at his arraignment decided to place him in state custody. The client faced violent felony charges, making it difficult, Perehinec said, to argue that he should be immediately released and supervised within the community before a trial.
If his trial had been held two years earlier, the young man would have been sent to the county jail where adults are held - a practice that juvenile justice advocates have long argued endangers the safety of young people and does little to promote rehabilitation.
However, since New York's
Raise the Age law passed in October, 2018, defendants aged 16 and under are required to be placed in juvenile facilities. (In October, 2019 the law will be applied to 17-year-olds.)
But the law still did not quite match up to New York State realities.
The scarcity of juvenile facilities certified by the state to house 16- and 17-year-olds accused of serious felonies has led to unintended consequences. Read more
here.
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Community-Based Care Efforts Stunted by Limited SDOH Communication
Clinicians aren't quite sure where their patients live, despite an increasing focus on the social determinants of health (SDOH) and efforts to drive community-based care, according to a new University of Houston (UH)
study.
Where a patient lives has a considerable impact on their health, experts agree. A patient who is homeless, for example, will face a litany of healthcare access challenges that impact her ability to be healthy, including issues managing chronic or acute care needs.
And even when a patient does have consistent housing, neighborhood can play a big role in wellness. Patients who live in relatively expensive housing or housing with poor living conditions are going to experience their own healthcare access issues. A patient's address can also influence her ability to
access healthy foods, attend a good school system, or feel protected from neighborhood violence.
As the healthcare industry embraces the social determinants of health as critical to achieving value-based care, it will be important for doctors to know about these key factors, researchers at UH said. Read more
here.
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Effective Early Diversion Follow-up for Engaging Individuals in Services and Recovery
August 19, 1 - 2 pm, SAMHSA's GAINS Center
Enable Access to Client-Level Data in PSYCKES
August 20, 11 am - 12 pm, OMH
How To Build Effective Programs That Meet Payers' Focus On Social Determinants Of Health: Will The New Codes Pave The Way? (SDoH Series Part 2)
August 20, 12 - 1 pm, PsychU
The Safety Planning Intervention to Reduce Suicide Risk for People with Serious Mental Illness
August 20, 1:30 - 3 pm, SAMHSA
Emergency Medical Services as Partners in Early Diversion Strategies
August 23, 1 - 2 pm, SAMHSA's GAINS Center
Effective Data and Information Sharing: Navigating Common Challenges
August 26, 12:30 - 2 pm, SAMHSA's GAINS Center
Serious Mental Illness/Substance Use Disorders and Tailoring FEP Programs to Serve Women
August 27, 1:30 - 3 pm, SAMHSA
Behavioral Health HEDIS® Measures: An Annual Update From NCQA©
August 29, 12 - 1 pm, PsychU
Accelerating Value-Based Payment in Federally Qualified Health Centers: Options for Medicaid Health Plans
August 29, 1 - 2:30 pm, Center for Health Care Strategies
PSYCKES Access and Implementation
August 29, 2 - 3 pm, OMH
Tailoring an Opioid Overdose Prevention Program for Drug Courts
September 3, 3 - 4:30 pm, SAMHSA's GAINS Center
Risk-Need-Responsivity in Reentry: Effective Applications in Community Corrections
September 5, 12:30 - 2 pm, SAMHSA's GAINS Center
Moving from Trauma-Informed to Trauma-Responsive Care Through Training, Referral and Treatment for Youth and Families
September 5, 1 - 2 pm, iSPARC
Best Practices for Transition Planning for High School Students with Mental Health Conditions
September 12, 1 - 2 pm, Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research
Understanding Mental Health Parity: Regulatory, Policy and Litigation Trends
September 17, 1 - 2 pm, Manatt Health
Scaling Up Crisis Call Center Services and State-Center Partnerships in the Context of National Crisis Service Growth
September 17, 2 - 3:30 pm, National Council for Behavioral Health |
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CLMHD BH Portal Webinar: Other Resources - Kids Well-being Indicators Clearinghouse
August 14: 12 - 12:30 pm, GTM
Children & Families Committee Meeting
August 20, 11:30 am - 1 pm, GTM
CLMHD BH Portal Webinar: Other Resources - Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)
August 28: 12 - 12:30 pm, GTM
SEPTEMBER 2019
CLMHD Office Closed - Labor Day
September 2
Executive Committee Call
September 4: 8 am
CLMHD Fall Full Membership Meeting
September 10-11, 2019, Crowne Plaza, Lake Placid
CLMHD BH Portal Webinar: Other Resources - Statewide Planning & Research Cooperative System (SPARCS)
September 25: 12 - 12:30 pm, GTM
Contact CLMHD for all Call In and Go To Meeting information, 518.462.9422
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Psychiatrists Considering Change To Intellectual Disability Criteria
A
proposed revision to the diagnostic criteria for intellectual disability is prompting concerns about underdiagnosis and a loss of services and legal protections for people with the condition.
The American Psychiatric Association, or APA, is considering altering the entry for intellectual disability in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5, or DSM-5. Often called the bible of psychiatry, psychiatrists, researchers, insurers and others rely on the manual to determine what symptoms are worthy of a diagnosis.
At issue is a connection between two of the three criteria for diagnosing intellectual disability. The three criteria are: deficits in intellect, deficits in adaptive functioning or daily life skills, and onset during childhood. Read more
here.
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Summer Issue of OPWDD's People First
Click here to read the summer issue!
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Independent Practice Association and MVP Health Care Unite
Healthy Alliance Independent Practice Association (IPA) and MVP Health Care announced a groundbreaking partnership that will provide funding to community-based organizations (CBOs) in the Capital Region.
Approximately $800,000 will be distributed to a select group of non-profits whose services will improve the overall health of those in need. The funding will also be used to connect the social service providers to medical providers via Unite Us, a state-of-the-art technology platform that digitally connects the two sectors for referrals and tracking purposes.
Addressing social determinants of health, or the conditions in which people are born, live, grow, work, and age, has a substantial impact on a person's health. Healthy Alliance IPA and MVP Health Care will work with CBOs to connect high-need individuals to services such as housing, nutrition, and transportation. Read more
here.
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Northwell Opening First Addiction Treatment Facility Centered on Research - Nassau County
The escalating opioid crisis has prompted many health systems to integrate addiction medicine services within primary-care delivery settings, with varying degrees of success.
About eight years ago, New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health began planning a different route. It would create a residential and outpatient treatment facility centered on addiction medicine research. When Wellbridge Addiction Treatment and Research opens in November in Long Island, it'll be the first of its kind in the nation.
"The possibility of having patients literally down the hall from scientists was something that I wanted," said Andrew Drazan, CEO and co-founder of Wellbridge.
The $95 million, six-building, 40-acre campus will include 80 residential beds and a 6,000 square-foot research facility.
Twenty beds will be used for patients undergoing medically supervised detox while 40 beds will be available for monthlong rehabilitation stays. Another 20 beds will be for stays of up to three months. Nearly half of Wellbridge's staff will be clinical professionals. Read more
here.
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How Do You Measure Access?
For provider organizations, building health plan partnerships starts with the development of a brief "pitch deck" that outlines an organization's value summary, including quality and cost differentiators. During a recent presentation, OPEN MINDS Senior Associate Deb Adler noted that one of the important differentiators health plans are looking for from provider organizations is the ability to improve access to care.
Why is access such a major priority for health plans? Improving access to care promotes better consumer engagement, increases consumer satisfaction, and results in better positive clinical and financial outcomes.
While access to care is widely recognized as a major issue, there is still a lot of difficultly in measuring access issues and determining what is adequate availability for consumer populations. So, how do you determine if access is an issue in your market? In today's session, Ms. Adler discussed several sample measures that health plans analyze when determining access and availability to care. Read more
here.
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Opioid Crisis: Here's How Many Times Lifesaving, Overdose-Reversing Drug Used in New York
First responders and everyday citizens used naloxone, the overdose-reversing drug, about 17,500 times last year across New York in an urgent
push to keep those gripped by opioid addiction alive.
The tally comes as early statistics show drug overdose deaths nationally declined to 68,000 in 2018, the first major decline during an addiction epidemic that has claimed tens of thousands of people this decade, the USA TODAY Network
reported
.
As some experts partially attributed the 5% drop in drug deaths to naloxone use, programs intended to train and equip New Yorkers with the lifesaving drug have garnered results, according to state Department of Health data. Read more
here.
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Governor Cuomo Directs Department of Health to Apply for Federal Waiver to Provide Medicaid Services to Incarcerated Individuals Leaving Prisons and Jails
The NYS Department of Health this week announced that at Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's direction, it is submitting for public comment an application tothe US Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services, to provide Medicaid services to certain incarcerated individuals about to be released from county jails and New York State prisons.The services will be provided beginning 30 days prior to the release date for people enrolled in Medicaid with certain serious health conditions.
The
Waiver Amendment will be posted online for public comment
for 30 days beginning today. The comment period is the final requirement before the state can submit the application to amend its Medicaid Redesign program.
The waiver application was highlighted in the 2019 State of the State Justice Agenda. The initiative will apply to incarcerated individuals who have two or more chronic physical/behavioral health conditions, a serious mental illness, HIV/AIDS, or opioid use disorder, and enable them to connect to community-based care prior to release from incarceration. Read more here.
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Methadone Now Allowed in Upstate NY Prison, If Inmates Come From Rikers OTP First
A new program in New York has finally made it possible for methadone patients in the KEEP program at the New York City Rikers jail-the first behind-the-walls opioid treatment program (OTP) in the country-to continue their treatment if they are sentenced to incarceration upstate. The program, a partnership between NYC Health and Hospitals/Correctional Health Services, the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS), and NYS Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS), is expected to affect about 200 to 400 patients a year, said Jonathon M. Giftos, MD, clinical director of substance use treatment for NYC Health and Hospitals/Correction Health Services.
The new program, which takes effect July 1, applies to one upstate prison, in Elmira. This is the first time methadone will be allowed in state prisons. Read more
here.
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It's The Go-To Drug To Treat Opioid Addiction. Why Won't More Pharmacies Stock It?
Louis Morano knows what he needs, and he knows where to get it.
Morano, 29, has done seven stints in rehab for opioid addiction in the past 15 years. So, he has come to a mobile medical clinic parked on a corner of Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood, in the geographical heart of the city's overdose crisis. People call the mobile clinic the "bupe bus."
Buprenorphine is a drug that curbs cravings and treats the symptoms of withdrawal from opioid addiction. One of the common brand name drugs that contains it, Suboxone, combines the buprenorphine with naloxone.
Combined with cognitive behavioral therapy, buprenorphine is one of the three FDA-approved medicines considered the gold standard for opioid-addiction treatment. Read more
here.
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