“COVID-19 has brought into high relief what we have long known: for children to thrive, they need a strong family and systems that are aligned, coordinated, and well-resourced,” Kate Breslin, president and CEO of the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, wrote in a statement released Friday. Read more here.

States’ distribution plans for COVID-19 vaccines currently outline strategies to reach health care workers, long-term care facilities, and some priority populations, but most do not explicitly address populations with serious mental illness and chronic substance use disorders. Many such people are vulnerable to COVID-19 because they receive treatment in residential or inpatient facilities or live in shared housing or congregate care, places where the virus has been shown to spread quickly. They have high rates of comorbid physical health conditions that place them at risk for poor COVID-19 outcomes, and there is also compelling evidence of higher COVID-19 mortality among people who were recently diagnosed with a mental disorder. As states refine their plans to distribute COVID-19 vaccines, they should engage behavioral health providers to develop strategies to reach the populations they serve. Read more here.

Click here to complete a nomination form. The deadline for nominations is March 3, 2021. Please submit nominations to Kate Provencher via email at Kathryn.Provencher@omh.ny.gov.

February 17, 2 - 3 pm, OMH

Baby Boomers and Substance Misuse: What you need to know and what you can do about it

February 25, 2 - 4 pm

This deal heads off civil lawsuits threatened by state attorneys general. Read more here.

Additional article of interest: New York to Receive $32M in Opioid Settlement Funds

The bill is named after Daniel Prude, a Rochester man who died after his interaction with police in March of last year.

Now, after the most recent incident of a 9-year-old girl getting handcuffed and peppersprayed in Rochester police custody, Daniel’s brother, Joe Prude, said action needs to be taken on this bill. Read more here.

Additional article of interest: 'A mental health crisis should not be a death sentence.' What Daniel's Law would do

The Biden administration appears to have shaved $2 billion or more off New York’s budget gap with a boost in Medicaid funding that does not need congressional approval.

In a letter to governors on Jan. 22 – two days after President Biden’s inauguration – the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said that the pandemic-related federal public health emergency “will likely remain in place for the entirety of 2021.”

That has the effect of extending an increase in Medicaid funding that was part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, a relief package enacted in March 2020. The bill added 6.2 percentage points to federal matching aid for the program, worth about $1 billion per fiscal quarter to state coffers, until after the pandemic emergency declaration is ended. Read more here.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo this week announced the fifth round of awards from the Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative, which will provide $30 million annually to fund support services and operating costs for at least 1,200 units of supportive housing for homeless persons with special needs, conditions or other challenges. The 179 conditional awards will help 104 community providers create housing opportunities in 41 counties across New York. The conditional awards provide service and operating funding for permanent supportive housing units. The awards will allow applicants to secure separate capital funding to finance the development and construction of their housing projects. The conditional awards can be found listed by region and county here.

This report describes the uses and limitations of commonly available data sets that can stand alone or be used in conjunction with other data to answer common questions posed by state and local leaders.

Mortality rates increased for methamphetamine (annual rate ratio 1.278, 95% CI 1.261-1.295), cocaine (ARR 1.234, 95% CI 1.222-1.245), and amphetamine (ARR 1.118, 95% CI 1.082-1.155), they wrote in a JAMA Internal Medicine research letter. Read more here.

On January 19th, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office of the Surgeon General (OSG)—in collaboration with the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention (Action Alliance)—released The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Implement the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention.  This new report outlines the actions that communities and individuals can take to reduce the rates of suicide and help improve resilience.

Suicide is one of the 10 leading causes of death in the U.S., claiming more than 47,000 lives in 2019 alone, and the rates of suicide have risen more than 30 percent between 1999-2019. With so many individuals facing economic hardship and social isolation as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, many Americans are indicating increased mental health concerns. And while we don't know yet what, if any, impact the pandemic will have on suicide rates, the time to act is now. Read more here.

Code of Conduct Train the Trainer Sessions: The National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) has teamed with the New York State Justice Center to develop an interactive train-the-trainer curriculum designed to assist organizations teach the New York State Justice Center's Code of Conduct. The objective of the curriculum is to ensure that staff who support people served under the jurisdiction of the New York State Justice Center understand the Code of Conduct as a framework of professional conduct. This interactive 3-hour webinar provides participants with tools they can share with new and seasoned staff to prepare them to understand, utilize, and practice the Code of Conduct. The sessions will be offered in April, May and June. Participants in this training should include trainers, quality assurance administrators, human resource professionals, and anyone that will be able to bring this curriculum to life in their respective organizations/agencies. To find out more and register for one of the sessions, click here.

New Spotlight on Prevention Toolkits: The information contained in the Justice Center’s Spotlight on Prevention toolkits is offered as a resource for provider agencies and staff. These resources are intended to be used as a guide that may be modified as needed to apply to particular types of programs and specific age groups of vulnerable people. Recently we added a toolkit on the safety benefits of GPS devices and updated the dangers of caregiver fatigue toolkit. Spotlight on Prevention Toolkits can be found on the Justice Center website and by clicking here.

significant social risk factors, which if addressed, could improve their access to care, health outcomes, and quality of life. With support from Arnold Ventures, the Center for Health Care Strategies recently partnered with the Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP) to examine how its Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan (D-SNP) members were addressing their enrollees’ social risk factors. Read more here.