Advancing Public Policies for People with Mental Illness, Chemical Dependency or Developmental Disabilities
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Fall 2017 Issue of Behavioral Health News Highlights Opioid Epidemic
Click
here to read the issue
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SAVE THE DATE:
NYS Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare Annual Conference
On November 28-29, the NYS Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare will host its Annual Conference and Membership Meeting in New York City. On Day 1 participants will be meeting with a variety of state officials to discuss issues including commercial insurance rates and MCO Timely Payment and Fair Contracting Issues.
On Day 2, the meeting will feature Tony Rodgers, Principle at Health Management Associates (HMA), who will answer questions and provide solutions to many agency concerns regarding value based payment (VBP). Among other topics, he will discuss implementation concerns that arise while juggling competing priorities and essential tasks and activities needed to participate. He will also address the following questions, as well as others, that might be asked:
- What are the most important data sets to collect?
- How can we leverage this information to impact care and increase return on investment?
- Can we be involved in VBP contracting without blowing the budget? How much should we spend?
The NYS Council is a statewide non-profit membership association representing the interests of nearly 100 behavioral health (mental health and substance use) prevention, treatment and recovery organizations across New York. Additional details about the Conference, as well as a registration form, are available online at the
NYS Council Web site.
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Make the Voices of Recovery Count in New York State
Friends of Recovery - New York (FOR-NY) needs your help in distributing the FOR-NY
Life in Recovery Survey. The survey will help FOR-NY identify current needs, strengths and gaps in addiction and recovery services and supports for individuals and families in recovery.
The critical information we gather will help us pinpoint resources needed by individuals, families, friends and allies to the recovery community so we can make important recommendations to legislators and policy makers to improve the quality of addiction services and recovery supports provided to thousands of New Yorkers.
Survey takers should be at least one of the following:
- A person in recovery
- A family member of someone with an addiction
- A family member who has lost someone to an addiction
- A professional in the addiction / recovery field
For additional information, please contact Allison Weingarten FOR-NY Director of Policy, by email at
aweingarten@for-ny.org or by phone at (518)487-4395 X22.
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HRSA Rural Health Funding Opportunity
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is accepting applications for up to $5,000,000 in available funds to participate in the Outreach Program, a community-based grant program aimed to promote rural health care services by enhancing health care delivery in rural communities.
Outreach projects focus on the improvement of access to services, strategies for adapting to changes in the health care environment, and overall enrichment of the respective community's health. Through a consortia of local health care and social service providers, rural communities can develop innovative approaches to challenges related to their specific health needs. Furthermore, the program creates an opportunity to address the key clinical priorities of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS): serious mental illness, substance abuse, and childhood obesity.
Learn more and apply
by
December 6
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October 30, 12:30 - 2 pm, CHCS
Leveraging Technology To Support Your Population Health Management Strategy
November 2, 2 - 3:30 pm, Netsmart
November 2, 2 - 3 pm, Genoa, A QoL Healthcare Company
November 7, 12 - 1 pm, PsychU
November 9, 2 - 3:15 pm, Stepping Up
November 9, 3 - 4 pm, SAS
November 15, 12 - 1 pm, SAMHSA GAINS Center
November 16, 2 - 3:15 pm, Stepping Up
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Officers, Chairs & Regional Reps Call
November 1: 8 am
Office Closed - Veterans' Day
November 10
Directors & Executive Committee Combined Meeting
November 15: 9:30 - 12:30 pm
GTM
Children & Families Committee Meeting
November 21: 11:30 am - 1 pm,
GTM
Office Closed - Thanksgiving
November 23 & 24
Mental Hygiene Planning Committee Meeting
November 28: 1 - 3 pm,
GTM
Contact CLMHD for all Call In and Go To Meeting information, 518.462.9422
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OPWDD Acting Commissioner Delaney Announces the Release of the Coordinated Assessment System (CAS) Validity Study
The Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) uses the Coordinated
Assessment System (CAS) to help understand the unique health and support needs of the people we serve. Using the CAS, assessment specialists work closely with individuals, families, support and clinical staff to gain a thorough understanding of a person's strengths, needs and desires for his or her life.
In partnership with the Center for Human Services Research, University at Albany, OPWDD is pleased to announce the release of the study
The Coordinated Assessment System (CAS): Validating the CAS in New York State
, which is available on OPWDD's Website. The report contains information on extensive evaluations of the CAS, specifically:
- A case study that was conducted in 2013 that looked at individual, family and provider feedback on the person-centered administration process of the assessment, which is a key component of the CAS; and
- A series of statistical tests that show how the interRAI scales perform compared to other assessment tools.
With this study, OPWDD expanded upon research conducted by interRAI to more fully measure the performance of the CAS by including a more diverse population of people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (I/DD) receiving a wider range of services in New York State.
This report helps to assure us that the CAS is a valid, person-centered needs assessment instrument for New Yorkers with I/DD.
In the coming weeks, OPWDD will be conducting a WebEx presentation (more information to be announced) for stakeholders to summarize the validation report and to address any questions.
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Governor Cuomo Announces New Initiative to Treat Homeless Dealing with Addiction and Substance Abuse
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced a new initiative to help connect homeless New Yorkers to addiction treatment services. Through the initiative, New York State Certified Recovery Peer Advocates will meet people at homeless shelters in New York City who are struggling with addiction, work to get them engaged in treatment, and provide brief interventions and connections to treatment services. The effort is part of the Governor's five-year, $10.4 billion Housing Plan to address homelessness as well as his multi-prong approach to combatting addiction.
Homeless individuals are more likely than the public at large to suffer from a substance use disorder. Two-thirds of individuals that are homeless report that substance abuse was a major cause of their becoming homeless. Conversely, drugs and alcohol can be used by some as an escape mechanism for vulnerable populations including people experiencing homelessness. Instead of providing an actual escape, substance abuse only adds to the difficulty of their circumstances. Read more here.
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OPWDD People First Care Coordination Forums Announcement
People First Care Coordination
, part of OPWDD's ongoing transformation agenda, will integrate the coordination of services for individuals with developmental disabilities with the coordination of health, wellness, and behavioral health services through a single and individualized Life Plan. Implementation is planned for July, 2018 with the establishment of Care Coordination Organizations (CCOs) with experience in providing and coordinating services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
In order to provide information about next year's transition to People First Care Coordination, OPWDD is holding five regional forums across the state - stakeholders are cordially invited to attend the forum most convenient to their location. Read more
here.
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Report: Nearly Every State has Updated its Telehealth Legislation Since Last Year
As telehealth becomes more prevalent among US healthcare institutions, states are rolling out or modifying their laws to better define regulatory frameworks specifically affecting remote delivery of care. In fact, every state but Connecticut and Massachusetts has made substantive legal changes to how telehealth is delivered in the past year, with some taking specific actions to better define the path of mental health-focused treatment, according to recent data on telemental regulations released by healthcare and life sciences firm Epstein Becker Green.
re-examines state regulations in light of telehealth's growth over the past year. According to the firm, these expansions include CMMS' report of a 28 percent increase in Medicare payments for telehealth services, the telehealth private payer laws enacted in 31 states and the District of Columbia, and HHS' estimate that 61 percent of healthcare institutions are employing some form of telehealth services. Read more here.
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Supporting Health Care Partnerships with Community-Based Organizations - Medicaid Fact Sheet and Partnership Assessment Tool for Health
With the nation's increasing focus on health care quality and cost comes a growing recognition of the role that social determinants of health (SDOH) - such as housing, food security, education, and employment - play in the well-being of individuals and communities. Many community-based organizations (CBOs) and health care organizations (HCOs) are exploring partnership opportunities to achieve better health outcomes. With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the
Partnership for Healthy Outcomes brought together Nonprofit Finance Fund, the Center for Health Care Strategies, and the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities to capture insights for effective collaborations between CBOs and HCOs, particularly those that serve low-income and/or vulnerable populations.
Following are new resources to help guide Medicaid stakeholders as well as CBOs and HCOs in supporting effective partnerships:
Using Medicaid Levers to Support Health Care Partnerships with Community-Based Organizations: This fact sheet outlines strategies to help Medicaid stakeholders encourage partnerships between CBOs and HCOs. States can provide: (1) financial support to build and sustain program capacity; (2) assistance in identifying metrics for evaluation; (3) incentives to providers to address SDOH; and (4) use of policy levers, including value-based contracts, managed care organization regulations, and state plan amendments, to support partnership efforts.
Partnership Assessment Tool for Health (PATH): Designed for CBOs and HCOs in existing partnerships, this tool provides a template to understand progress toward benchmarks characteristic of effective partnerships, identify areas for further development, and guide strategic conversation. The objective of the tool is to help partnering organizations work together more effectively and maximize their impact.
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