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Governor Hochul Announces $10 Million Available to Improve Mental Health Services for Youth and Families
Governor Kathy Hochul on Friday announced $10 million in state funding is available to create a pair of statewide networks that youth and families will be able to rely on for behavioral health information, support, and services. Administered by the New York State Office of Mental Health, the funding will help establish two separate networks, including one dedicated to helping youth and another aimed at assisting families. Read more here.
Related: HHS Announces the Availability of $25 Million to Expand Primary Care – Including Mental Health – Services in Schools
Schools across the country say more students are asking for mental health services
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Workforce Concerns Are Top of Mind for Senate Mental Health Leader
Senate Mental Health Committee Chair Samra Brouk, a Rochester Democrat, shares her perspective on the governor’s proposed budget, including a proposed cost of living raise for workers in the mental health field. Click here to listen to the Capital Pressroom broadcast.
Related: Sen. Samra Brouk sponsors bill proposed to alleviate strain on mental health services
How SAMHSA Is Tackling the Mental Health Workforce Shortage
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Health + Hospitals Advances New Strategy to House Homeless Patients
NYC Health + Hospitals plans to hire an outside organization to help its homeless patients find housing, a $14 million investment that officials said would improve health outcomes and slash costly emergency room visits. The municipal health system has proposed contracting with Coordinated Behavioral Care, a not-for-profit consortium of behavioral health organizations, to work with about 600 unhoused patients annually on finding a permanent home. The consortium’s housing navigators will help patients find and apply for appropriate apartments, accompany them on viewings and provide them with furniture and supplies upon move-in. Read more here.
Related: Governor Hochul Announces more than $2.7 Million to Support Addiction Services in New York City Homeless Shelters
How Providers Across the US Are Caring For the Country’s 580,000+ Homeless People
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Inside The Patient Bottlenecks at ECMC and What It Says About the Health Care System
For much of the last three years, Covid-19 represented the largest operational challenge at Erie County Medical Center. That's no longer the case.
"It's been replaced now by these long length-of-stay patients," said Dr. Samuel Cloud, ECMC's chief medical officer.
ECMC, like many hospitals across Western New York, the state and the country, is struggling to get patients out of its hospital, a multilayered problem that shows just how intricately connected the health care system is and how just one issue – in just one of its parts – can cripple the whole structure. It's a difficult-to-remedy ailment that causes delays in care for patients, leads some to go without care entirely and dents a hospital's bottom line. Read more here.
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New Report Calls for Innovative Solutions to Address Behavioral Health Crisis
The surge in demand for behavioral health services is pushing providers to embrace telehealth and digital health solutions, according to a new report. The report, Trends Shaping the Health Economy: Behavioral Health, from analytics and market research firm Trilliant Health, finds that behavioral health visit volume has jumped 18% over pre-pandemic levels, and the percentage of virtual visits for behavioral health concerns has surged from 34.4% in 2019 to 63.8% in 2022. Read more here.
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Governor Hochul Announces $13.3 Million Awarded for Construction of Emergency and Permanent Supportive Housing
Governor Kathy Hochul today announced that more than $13.3 million has been awarded to help expand and preserve emergency and permanent supportive housing for individuals and families experiencing homelessness. Funding was awarded to projects that will create 51 apartments in the Bronx and a new 80-bed emergency shelter for families in Erie County. Funding was also awarded to help make repairs to existing emergency shelters in Oneida and Chautauqua counties. Read more here.
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Opinion: Medicaid Prescription Changes Threaten Patients and Safety Net Providers
New York state is about to disrupt how Medicaid patients receive the prescription drugs they need, which will compromise safety net providers’ ability to provide critical care to underserved New Yorkers. Since 1992, the federal 340B drug pricing program has given low-income patients and their communities necessary resources and services through discounted drug prices. The 340B program allows qualifying hospitals, federally qualified health centers and community health centers to purchase outpatient prescription drugs at a discount and then invest those savings into reduced cost or free medications for patients or into services not covered by Medicaid, such as care coordination, housing placement and food and nutrition programs, to name a few. Read more here.
Related: State Legislature Responds to Hochul’s Proposal with Higher Medicaid Reimbursement Rate Bump, 340B Repeal
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What’s Holding Back Health IT Interoperability in 2023? ONC Has Some Thoughts.
Passage and implementation of the 21st Century Cures Act has ushered widespread electronic health record adoption by providers, forward momentum on interoperability and more vendors incorporating data standards in their products, the Biden administration’s health IT office wrote in a recent Congressional report.
The report highlighted what the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) called the U.S. health system’s “tremendous progress” on electronic health information. As of 2021, 96% of non-federal acute care hospitals and nearly four in five office-based physicians are using an EHR certified by ONC, according to the report. Read more here.
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How Medicaid Managed Care Orgs Can Better Invest in SDOH Interventions
Medicaid managed care organizations can leverage financial bonds to help increase funds for social determinants of health interventions and avoid underinvesting, according to research published in Health Affairs. Social determinants of health, including food insecurity, transportation barriers, and housing instability, can impact health equity and lead to avoidable health outcomes and spending. Interventions to address these factors typically require significant upfront funding, with benefits occurring down the line in the form of cost savings.
Medicaid managed care organizations experience enrollment and eligibility changes, which may dissuade them from investing in interventions as they are not guaranteed a return on investment. Read more here.
Related: Understanding and Addressing Social Drivers of Health: Insights from the MetroHealth Institute for H.O.P.E.
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Study Finds Psychiatry Training On Developmental Disabilities ‘Insufficient’
Psychiatrists are often some of the main providers of care for people with autism and intellectual disability, but new research finds that many of these specialists have little training to meet the needs of this population. The directors of psychiatry residency programs across the country report that their trainees receive relatively few hours per year of training in autism and intellectual disability and are exposed to a limited number of patients with these conditions. The findings published recently in the journal Autism come from a study based on surveys of 78 leaders at 83 accredited psychiatry training programs in 2019. Read more here.
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UPCOMING EVENTS & TRAININGS
Flipping the Script: A Teach-In for Healthcare Workers on Homelessness and Aging
March 16, 1 - 2 pm, Corporation for Supportive Housing
DLTSS Training: Unwinding Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Public Health Emergency
March 15, 2 - 3:30 pm, CMS
Adding Up the Cost of Health Inequity
March 15, 2 - 3 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Federal Health Privacy Laws: Basics for School Professionals - Session 2
March 16, 1 - 2 pm, MTTHC
Mobile Crisis Response Teams: Services Across Diverse Settings
March 16, 2 - 3 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
PSYCKES for BHCCs and Other Networks
March 16, 2 - 3 pm, OMH
Co-occurring Opioid and Stimulant Use Disorders
March 21, 2 - 3 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
What You Need to Know about Proposed DEA Rules on Prescribing Controlled Substances Via Telehealth
March 21, 2 - 3 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Justice Center Code of Conduct Train-the-Trainer Session
March 22, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm, NYS Justice Center
Medicaid and CHIP Continuous Enrollment Unwinding: What to Know and How to Prepare, A Partner Education Monthly Series
March 22, 12 - 1 pm, CMS
AWARE Pre-Application NOFO Webinar (SM-23-001)
March 22, 3 - 4 pm, SAMHSA
Embrace, Encourage, and Engage: Family and Caregiver Access to Child and Youth Mental Health Resources
March 22, 6 - 7:15 pm, ACF/SAMHSA
Pediatric Health Care Professional and Mental Health Specialist Collaboration
March 23, 1 - 2 pm, Bright Futures Let’s Talk Healthy Mental & Emotional Development Webinar Series
Youth and Family Partnership in Juvenile Justice Systems Reform: Building a Strategy, Sharing Power, and Shifting the Culture
March 23, 1 - 2 pm, CSG Justice Center
Peer Support Service Models Success in Integrated Care Settings
March 23, 3 - 4 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Expanding Access to Opioid Use Disorder Treatment During and After Incarceration
March 23, 3 - 4 pm, FORE
Advancing Health Equity for Community Members Returning from Incarceration: The Role of Community Health Workers
March 27, 1 - 2:30 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
CMS Opens Door for Pre-Release Services for Justice-Involved Populations: Health Care and Justice System Implications
March 27, 2 - 3:15 pm, Center for Health Care Strategies
Virtual Summit: Steering in the Right Direction - Diversion and Supports for Transition-Age Youth in the Criminal Justice System
March 29, 12 - 5 pm, SAMHSA's GAINS Center
Workforce Development & Psychological Safety among BIPOC Women in Leadership
March 29, 1 - 2 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
County Strategies to Provide Supportive Housing for Familiar Faces
March 29, 2 - 3 pm, NACo
Prioritizing Goals Of Treatment In Patients Diagnosed With Bipolar I Disorder: Results From A US Patient Survey Using Best-Worst Scaling
March 30, 12 - 1 pm, PsychU
Mental Health in Communities of Color Symposium: Breaking the Stigma & Silence and Prioritizing Needs
March 31, 9 am - 2 pm
Linking Neural Circuits To Dysfunction In Schizophrenia
April 6, 12 - 1 pm, PsychU
Reducing Jail Populations: Lowering Recidivism through Jail- & Community-Based Treatment & Services
April 6, 2 - 3 pm, NACo
Sustainable Financing Approaches for Medicaid Managed Care Organizations to Address Health-Related Social Needs
April 6, 4 - 5 pm, Center for Health Care Strategies
2023 Justice Center Summit
April 18 - 19, 25 - 26 - Event Flyer
Housing Supports for Older Adults Experiencing Homelessness
April 19, 2 - 3 pm, HHRC
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CLMHD CALENDAR
MARCH
Children & Families Committee Meeting
March 21: 11:30 am - 1 pm
Deputy DCS Call
March 28: 10 - 11 am
APRIL
Executive Committee Meeting
April 5: 8 - 9 am
Developmental Disabilities Committee Meeting
April 6: 1 - 2:30 pm
LGU Clinic Operators Call
April 11: 10 - 11:30 am
Addiction Services & Recovery Committee Meeting
April 13: 11 am - 12 pm
Mental Health Committee Meeting
April 13: 3 - 4 pm
Children & Families Committee Meeting
April 18: 11:30 am - 1 pm
Membership Call
April 19: 9 - 10:30 am
Mentoring Session: Local Services Planning
April 20: 1 - 3 pm
Deputy DCS Call
April 25: 10 - 11 am
Save the Date: CLMHD Spring Full Membership Meeting - May 11-12 in Saratoga Springs
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