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Drugs, Treatment and Harm: Federal Official Describes Realities of Addiction Crisis
BATAVIA — State and local human services agencies, supported by the federal government, must pool their services to fight the scourge of substance use disorder that resulted in 108,000 overdose deaths last year, according to the general counsel of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
“It’s no longer an ‘either or’ proposition, treatment instead of medication. We’re losing 100,000 people, so it’s everything and anything we can think of to get to people before they die,” said Rob Kent of Haymarket, Va., a Syracuse native who served as general counsel at the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports for 13 years prior to his appointment with the Biden administration. Read more here.
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HHS Announces $40.22 Million in Youth Mental Health Grants Awarded in August Plus $47.6 Million in New Grant Funding Opportunities for School-Based Mental Health Program
Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), announced that it awarded $40.22 million in youth mental health grants throughout the month of August. This includes $5.3 million from American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding intended to address pandemic-related stressors that have increased mental health conditions among younger Americans. HHS also announced $47.6 million in new grant funding opportunities developed from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Read more here.
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As School Starts, Teachers Add a Mental-Health Check-In To Their Lesson Plans
As the new school year begins, teachers at many schools across the country are adding a new component to their routines: a mental health check-in with their students. The idea is to open up conversations around how kids are feeling emotionally, and to connect them to help before issues escalate to a crisis.
"I've been really impressed with the proactive position that school systems have taken," says Dr. Tami Benton, psychiatrist-in-chief at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and the president-elect of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Read more here.
Additional article of interest: NY Experiencing Shortage of School Social Workers
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Need Naloxone? Study Finds the Opioid Reversal Drug Will Cost You Dearly If You're Uninsured
The cost of buying the opioid antidote naloxone is out of reach for many uninsured Americans, a hurdle that
may keep the treatment from saving more people who overdose on opioids, according to a new RAND Corp.
study. While laws making it easier to prescribe and obtain naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, have increased the use of the medication, the out-of-pocket cost of the drug for the uninsured has risen sharply – even while falling for many who are insured, according to the findings published in the latest edition of the journal JAMA Health Forum. Read more here.
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Nearly 1 In 4 Young Adults in US Treated For Mental Health during Pandemic, CDC Survey Finds
The share of US adults who received treatment for mental health grew throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data published Wednesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Nearly 22% of adults got mental health treatment in 2021, up from about 19% in 2019.
This jump is probably due to a combination of increased need and better access to treatment, said Calliope Holingue, a psychiatric epidemiologist and member of Johns Hopkins University's COVID-19 Mental Health Measurement Working Group. Read more here.
Additional article of interest: A Slow-Motion Crisis: Gen Z’s Battle Against Depression, Addiction, Hopelessness
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NY Payer Partners With 4 Virtual Behavioral Health Providers
Empire BlueCross BlueShield has added four virtual behavioral health companies to its provider network. Empire BlueCross BlueShield, a healthcare payer, covers more than 4 million members and 38,000 business, union, and small employers in New York state. Through the new partnerships, Empire health plan members now have access to Alma, Headway, NOCD, and Ophelia — companies that provide various virtual care options for behavioral health issues. Read more here.
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A Proven Roadmap to Reduce Suicides Starts With Transformative Health Care
The fragmented U.S. health care system has long failed to adequately address suicide as an urgent public health problem, but progress is being made. A landmark surgeon general’s report in 1999 called for an organized national response, which led to the development of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, released in 2001 and updated in 2012, to guide efforts to reduce suicides.
The initiative sparked a dramatic increase in suicide prevention activity. One of the strategies that has had the most impact has proved to be Zero Suicide, which has helped transform health systems and improve the quality of suicide care in health care settings. Now, The Pew Charitable Trusts is working with the Zero Suicide Institute to scale up implementation of this approach nationwide. Read more here.
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Inside Behavioral Health Care’s Remote Patient Monitoring Opportunity
Remote patient monitoring (RPM) and similar technologies may help behavioral health operators track patients outside of a provider’s office.
These vital data are key to a number of increasingly present market trends that have to do with bringing more data and greater objectivity to the practice of behavioral health.
For example, the slow but inexorable advancement of value-based care arrangements often demands close tracking of patient care, retention or other specific measures. Apart from tracking the outcomes themselves, remote patient monitoring tools and similar technologies provide a way to ensure positive care outcomes. Read more here.
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Deciding How to Spend Billions in Opioid Settlement Payments
As states and localities begin receiving the money, advocates are pushing for it to go toward public health programs, and to avoid some practices that emerged around the 1990s tobacco settlement. Money from the national opioid lawsuit has started flowing to governments and more cases continue to be settled or litigated. The cases have typically contained some guardrails for how that money is spent. Even so, there is a great deal of activity and advice being given from interest groups so that governments don’t repeat what happened with the tobacco settlement funds in the 1990s and 2000s, where very little of the money went toward public health. Read more here.
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UPCOMING EVENTS & TRAININGS
Treatment for Opioid Use Disorders in Rural Areas
September 8, 3 - 4 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
988 Celebration Webinar
September 12, 3 - 4 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
988: What’s The Scoop? A Discussion With Experts In Suicide Prevention & Mental Health
September 13, 12 - 1 pm, PsychU
Kinship Families Affected by Substance Use and Mental Health Disorders
September 14, 1 - 2 pm, SAMHSA
DLTSS Training Series: Building on Successes Toward Implementation of EVV for HHCS
September 14, 1:30 - 3 pm, CMS
A Patient-Centered Complex Care Research Agenda: Recommendations for Collective Action
September 15, 12 - 1:30 pm, Center for Health Care Strategies
America’s Growing Drug Overdose Crisis
September 15, 1 - 2 pm, NIHCM Foundation
Harnessing the Power of State Perinatal Collaboratives to Improve Outcomes for Families Affected by Substance Use Disorder in Pregnancy
September 15, 2 - 3 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Lessons Learned in Community-Based Recovery Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic
September 15, 3 - 4:30 pm, Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts
Fostering Connection Across the Lifespan: 2022 New York State Suicide Prevention Conference
September 20 - 22, Virtual - OMH SPCNYS
Implementing Tech-Enabled Innovation in Medicaid Managed Care: Opportunities to Advance Health Equity and Quality
September 20, 1 - 2 pm, Center for Health Care Strategies
Using Local Innovation to Address Racial Disparities in Criminal Justice Programs
September 20, 2 - 3:30 pm, CSG Justice Center
Consent, Emergency, Quality Flag: PSYCKES Levels of Access
September 21, 10 - 11 am, OMH
Defining, Evaluating, & Implementing Digital Health Tools
September 21, 12 - 1 pm, PsychU
Quality Matters: An Update From NCQA On Behavioral Health Measurement Trends
September 27, 12 - 1 pm, PsychU
Alcohol Use Disorder: Our Nation’s Hidden Epidemic
September 28, 2 - 3 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Decreasing Disparities and Improving Outcomes: A Closer Look at Standardization Tools Around Service Intensity
September 29, 2 - 3 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Professional Boundaries for OASAS Providers
October 12, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm, NYSJC
NYS Justice Center Code of Conduct Train-the-Trainer
October 4, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm, NYSJC
NYS Justice Center Code of Conduct Train-the-Trainer
November 9, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm, NYSJC
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CLMHD CALENDAR
SEPTEMBER
LGU Clinic Operators Meeting
September 13: 10 - 11:30 am
Children & Families Committee Meeting
September 20: 11:30 am - 1 pm
CLMHD Membership Call
September 28: 9 - 10:30 am
OCTOBER
Quarterly LGU Billing Staff Call
October 6, 2 - 3 pm
AOT Coordinators Meeting
October 7, 10 - 11:30 am
CLMHD Office Closed - Columbus Day
October 10
LGU Clinic Operators Call
October 11, 10 - 11:30 am
Executive Committee Meeting
October 12, 8 - 9 am
Addiction Services & Recovery Committee Meeting
October 13: 11 am - 12 pm
Mental Health Committee Meeting
October 13: 3 - 4 pm
Children & Families Committee Meeting
October 18: 11:30 am - 1 pm
CLMHD Fall Full Membership Meeting
October 20-21, Woodcliff Hotel & Spa, Rochester
Developmental Disabilities Committee Meeting
October 27, 1 - 2:30 pm
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