CEO Update 250
Please Help Us Identify New NABH Board Members by Monday, Oct. 20
As the NABH Selection Committee prepares to consider possible nominees, please help us identify potential candidates for:
► Board Chair-Elect and
► One Board seat that will open in 2026
The Selection Committee is interested particularly in identifying senior managers who represent the broad diversity of NABH’s membership, including various levels of care, organizational structures, and size.
Please download a nomination form to recommend individuals you would like to see included in the single slate for 2026. Please attach a curriculum vitae (CV) for each person you recommend. This will help the Selection Committee in its deliberations. You are welcome to suggest yourself.
Please return this form (and candidates’ CVs) by Monday, Oct. 20, 2025, to maria@nabh.org.
Thank you for your time and recommendations!
CMS Releases Additional Guidance on Medicare Telehealth Services
In guidance released Oct. 15, the Centers for Medicaid & Medicaid Services (CMS) said effective as of Oct. 1, Medicare patients initiating mental health treatment via telehealth must have an in-person visit within the previous six months and every 12 months after the initial telehealth visit.
The agency’s latest guidance also noted “… if a beneficiary began receiving mental health services on or before Sept. 30, 2025, then they would not be required to have an in-person visit within 6 months; rather, they will be considered established and will instead be required to have at least one in-person visit every 12 months.”
NABH and partners are urging Congress to continue the Covid-19 pandemic’s flexibilities and retroactively allow telehealth visits for new patients without an in-person visit. Without congressional action, providers who initiate mental health services via telehealth to new patients without an in-person visit may not be reimbursed for the service. CMS recommends providers who perform telehealth services and are unsure if they will be reimbursed should provide beneficiaries with an Advance Beneficiary Notice of Noncoverage, or ABN.
This policy change does not affect telehealth services for substance use or co-occurring treatment, which do not require initial and annual in-person visits. CMS instructed all Medicare Administrative Contractors to continue temporarily holding claims for services provided after Sept. 30, including claims paid under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, ground ambulance transport claims, and all Federally Qualified Health Center claims. This policy change does not affect Medicaid, commercial, PHP/IOP, or IPF claims.
Federal Agency Reductions in Force Draw Scrutiny from Lawmakers as Government Shutdown Enters Week #4
Friday, Oct. 17 marks Day #17 of the federal government shutdown and there’s no resolution in sight to break the impasse.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) continues to force Senate lawmakers to vote on the House-passed Continuing Resolution that would fund government operations through Nov. 21. However, Democrats remain firm in resisting the measure and demanding a vote to extend the Affordable Care Act’s tax credits before they support legislation to fund the government.
As the shutdown continues, the Trump administration has initiated reductions in force (RIF) across numerous federal agencies, including HHS and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which has raised concerns from lawmakers.
Meanwhile, Democratic Reps. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), Don Beyer (D-Va.), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), Lori Trahan (D-Mass.), Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.), and Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.) – all mental health and substance use disorder treatment champions – this week urged HHS to immediately reinstate fired SAMHSA staff and provide information about the effects of the departmental reorganization and RIF on the agency’s operations,
In their letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the lawmakers wrote these actions — which have reduced SAMHSA’s staff by more than half since the start of the Trump administration — run contrary to bipartisan congressional intent and undermine the nation’s response to its mental health and substance use disorder crises. These lawmakers each serve as leaders in either the Addiction, Treatment, and Recovery (ATR) Caucus, the Bipartisan Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Task Force, or the Mental Health Caucus.
NABH will continue to keep members informed as we learn new developments regarding government funding and agency staffing and services. Please contact Andy Dodson if you have questions or face challenges related to federal programs and services.
Please Submit Updates for the NABH’s Online Membership Directory
NABH asks all members to submit any changes to their organization’s profiles for the association’s Membership Directory, which we publish online only.
Your system’s information is the critical data we need to provide a more accurate description of our members to policymakers, regulators, and the media in our advocacy efforts.
To help ensure we have the most accurate member information, please use the link to our membership update tool that was sent in September to all system members and verify your system’s information. Please be sure to enter information on all of your system’s facilities so that we have a better picture of our diverse membership.
Please contact Maria Merlie at maria@nabh.org or 202-393-6700, ext. 104 for assistance or if you require the membership update tool link to be resent.
Thank you for your time and all you do to advance NABH’s Vision and Mission!
Attention All ‘Unit’ Committee Members: Register Today for NABH’s Fall Leadership Forum!
To all NABH members who serve on the Behavioral Health Services within General Healthcare Systems Committee (Unit Committee): join your fellow members for the 2025 NABH Fall Leadership Forum in Tampa, Fla. on Thursday, Nov. 6 through Friday, Nov. 7.
NABH thanks our member BayCare Behavioral Health for hosting this two-day meeting, which is designed to provide Unit Committee members with exclusive access to discussions with experts in the field and valuable opportunities for peer-to-peer engagement.
Please contact NABH Operations Coordinator Meghan Barrett at meghan@nabh.org for additional details and meeting agenda.
Fact of the Week
A new JAMA Psychiatrystudy that examined the efficacy of heart rate variability biofeedback, or HRVB, in treating 115 adults with SUD found that those who received HRVB experienced significant reductions in negative affect, craving, and alcohol and other drug use relative to controls. The findings suggest that HRVB practice may disrupt moment-level associations between craving and substance use, highlighting its potential as an adjunctive SUD treatment.
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.