For most of his life, Harris Marquesano struggled to live inside his own skin. He was a sweet boy — affectionate with his parents, protective of his little sister and devoted to his friends. But he had more energy than he knew what to do with, and he worried almost constantly. In preschool, when his teacher had to have surgery, he was so distressed by her absence that he tried to take over his classroom, presiding over each playgroup like a tiny, anxious general. By junior high, he was acting out in earnest. Some of Harris’s teachers suggested to his mother, Stephanie Marquesano, that he was just testing limits. But she knew it was more than that. “He was crawling out of his own skin half the time,” she said. “Running around and acting out was the only way for him to manage that feeling.” Read more here.

On June 22, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released a $365 million first-of-its-kind package of resources to address unsheltered homelessness and homeless encampments, including funds set aside specifically to address homelessness in rural communities.

Specifically, the package includes $322 million in Continuum of Care Program grants that counties are eligible to directly apply for. These grants can be used to fund homeless outreach, permanent housing, supportive services and other costs as part of a comprehensive community approach to solving unsheltered homelessness. Of the total $322 million, there is a $54.5 million set aside to support rural communities’ efforts to address homelessness. The grants will fund projects for three-years, after which they will be eligible for renewal through the annual Continuum of Care Program competition. The deadline to apply is October 20, 2022. Read more here.

A new bill signed by Governor Kathy Hochul on Friday will expand authority when it comes to diagnosing mental health, bolstering access to care.

Senate Bill S9449 is designed to help alleviate what lawmakers are calling the verge of a crisis in New York by expanding the pool of mental health professionals capable of assessing and diagnosing patients to include counselors. Previously, mental health counselors needed the signature of a psychiatrist or other qualified professional. Read more here.

Additional article of interest: Hopeful news for New Yorkers on waiting lists for mental health care

A bill introduced in New York State is seeking to create a Problem Gambling Advisory Council, a new body tasked with identifying issues affecting those suffering from a problem gambling disorder and recommending ways to make prevention and treatment more accessible. The legislation, approved earlier this month, now awaits for Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign it into law.

Bill S.409A/A.658A seeks to increase efforts to combat problem gambling in the state at a crucial time for New York. The proposal follows the launch of mobile sports betting at the start of the year -which has quickly resulted in the nation’s largest market for the activity- and the approval of three additional downstate casinos.

Read more here.

Patient- and staff-reported measures are a key way to assess the quality and experience of care for people with complex health and social needs. The Center for Health Care Strategies worked with health care organizations to test new measures for understanding patient and staff experiences related to well-being, equity, goals of care, and care integration. This brief shares insights on using these patient and staff measures from three health care organizations — the Center for the Urban Child and Healthy Family at Boston Medical Center, Hill Country Community Clinic, and Denver Health. Their experiences can inform other health systems and providers in more effectively assessing the impact of their complex care programs.

Additional article of interest: Using technology to get the most out of health needs assessments

This brief explores the state of adolescent mental health and substance use in recent years, highlighting differences observed by sex, racial and ethnic groups, and sexual orientation. Throughout this analysis, we define adolescents as individuals ages 12 to 17. Although data on adolescent mental health is limited, where possible, we draw upon data from the 2020 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), which asks parents or guardians questions on behalf of their children and adolescents.1 We also include data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other surveys conducted during the pandemic.

While behavioral health concerns are common among individuals with complex health and social needs, existing behavioral health outcome measures may not be appropriate for use in complex care programs. Fulbright Fellow from McMaster University, Cara Evans, in partnership with Jason Turi, Camden Coalition Director of Field Building & Resources, and Rebecca Sax, former Camden Coalition Sr. Program Manager of Field Building & Resources, interviewed program leaders and consumer advocates in the complex care field to get their insight on which measures work and how to improve others. Read the brief here.

Despite CMS efforts to expand oversight of Medicaid managed care direct payments and the US Government Accountability Office’s (GAO’s) previous recommendations to improve processes, the direct payment process in Medicaid still suffers from missing information, according to a GAO report.

Typically, states fund managed care plans and these plans cover providers’ services. However, CMS allows direct managed care plan payments to providers, or state directed payments, that are based on state-determined quality measures.

CMS provides some oversight for these state directed payments, but when GAO reviewed CMS data, documents, and guidance and interviewed the CMS officials the agency found the need for improvements. Read more here.

Annissa Holland should be excited her son is coming home from prison after four long years of incarceration. Instead, she’s researching rehab centers to send him to as soon as he walks out the gate.

She doesn’t know the person who’s coming home — the person who she said has been doing every drug he can get his hands on inside the Alabama prison system. She can hear it in the 34-year-old’s voice when he calls her on the prison phone. Read more here.

June 30, 1:30 - 3 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing

June 30, 2 - 3 pm, ATTC

July 6, 1 - 2:30 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing

July 6, 2 - 3 pm, HHRC

July 7, 4 - 6 pm, MHTTC

July 7, 1:30 - 2:30 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing

July 12, 11 am - 12 pm, OMH

July 12, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm, CCSI

July 13, 10 - 11 am, OMH

July 13, 12 - 1 pm, 2022 SPCNY Suicide Prevention Coalition Academy

July 14, 2 - 3 pm, NASHP

July 15, 12:30 - 2 pm, NASMHPD

July 15, 2 - 3 pm, HHRC

July 15, 5 - 6:15 pm, Kaiser Permanente's Institute for Health Policy

July 18, 10:30 am - 12 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing

July 19, 10 - 11 am, OMH

July 20, 10 - 11 am, OMH

July 21, 9:30 am - 3:30 pm, United Hospital Fund

July 21, 12 - 1 pm, PsychU

July 27, 3 - 4 pm, NWATTC

July 27, 3 - 5 pm, NAADAC

July 28, 1 - 2:30 pm, OMH

July 4

July 6: 9 - 10:30 am

July 7: 2 - 3 pm

July 11: 9:30 - 11:30 am

July 12: 9:30 - 11:30 am

July 13: 9:30 - 11:30 am

July 14: 11 am - 12 pm

July 14: 3 - 4 pm

July 19: 11:30 am - 1 pm

July 26: 10 - 11:30 am