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CEO Update | 39

NEJM Article Reinforces Themes from NABH’s ‘Pathways to Care’ White Paper In a recent issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, authors of a study about the nation’s emergency departments echoed similar themes and recommendations that NABH provides in Pathways to Care: Treating Opioid and Substance Use Disorders. In their article “Emergency Departments—A 24/7/365 Option for Combating the Opioid Crisis,” Gail D’Onofrio, M.D. and Kathryn Hawk, M.D., M.H.S. of the Yale University School of Medicine, along with Ryan P. McCormack, M.D. of the New York University School of Medicine, recommend encouraging emergency departments to initiate buprenorphine as well as establish relationships with community treatment providers to expedite treatment referrals. Meanwhile, D’Onofrio notes that providing buprenorphine in the emergency department can reduce withdrawal within 20 minutes, thereby supporting adherence to a 60-90 minute benchmark for discharge in urgent care settings; buprenorphine can reduce violence in the emergency department that may result from the irritability of withdrawal; emergency departments that provide services/medications for opioid use disorder have not seen an influx of new patients, which helps alleviate concerns that patients might overuse the nation’s emergency departments as portals to treatment; and, lastly, that momentum is growing for hospitals to open clinics to continue emergency department-initiated medication treatment.   Vaping the Most Common Use of Any Tobacco-Like Product Among Adolescents in 2017 Vaping was the most common use of any tobacco-like product among adolescents in 2017, reflecting a rapid increase from a near-zero prevalence of vaping in 2011, according to a recent analysis from researchers at the University of Michigan and University of Minnesota. Data for the study came from Monitoring the Future, which surveys nationally representative independent samples of students in the 8th, 10th, and 12th grades each year. The study’s authors wrote about their findings in a recent letter to the editor of The New England Journal of Medicine. “The rapid entry of new vaping devices on the market, the latest example of which is the Juul, will require continual updates and modification of strategies to keep adolescents from vaping and its associated negative health effects,” the authors noted. Register Now for National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week There is still time to register for National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week, which connects students with scientists and other experts to counteract myths about drugs and alcohol. This year’s National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week will be held from Jan. 22 through Jan. 27, with a Chat Day scheduled for Jan. 24. Click here to learn more and register an event. NABH Immediate Past Board Chair Brent Turner Provides Year in Review for 2018 The SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, NABH’s Pathways to Care white paper, and the association’s rebrand were among the industry highlights and association improvements that 2018 Board Chair Brent Turner highlighted this week in his Year in Review for members. “We still have more work to do to repeal the IMD exclusion completely. At the same time, we should be proud of the work we have done individually and collectively on this issue since 2013,” wrote Turner, president of Acadia Healthcare. “Back then, some industry stakeholders opposed changes to the IMD because they argued it would lead to less community-based care and more institutionalized care. By 2018, many more people recognized that patients need access to the full behavioral healthcare continuum, from inpatient to residential to outpatient care,” he continued. “NABH has been at the forefront advocating this message to policymakers, and the message is getting through.” Turner completed his term as Board Chair on Dec. 31. Pat Hammer, president and CEO of Rogers Behavioral Health, succeeded him as 2019 Board Chair on Jan. 1. 2019 NABH Exhibitor & Sponsor Guide Ad Deadline is One Week Away! The deadline to place an ad about your organization in the 2019 NABH Exhibitor & Sponsor Guide is next Friday, January 18. Download the 2019 Advertising Opportunities form and reserve space now. For questions, please contact Maria Merlie at 202.393.6700 (ext. 104), or (maria@nabh.org). And for more details about the 2019 NABH Annual Meeting, please visit NABH’s Annual Meeting homepage. We look forward to seeing you at the Mandarin Oriental Washington, D.C. from March 18-20, 2019! NABH Establishes Managed Care Committee NABH has established a Managed Care Committee to address the behavioral healthcare industry’s growing concern that health plans are micromanaging behavioral health services so intensely that they are restricting patient access to medically necessary care. The new committee will work with the NABH Board and management team—as well as external consultants who specialize in health plans, regulations, and the parity law—to develop a focused strategy that addresses this issue. Click on NABH’s Managed Care Committee webpage to learn more and to see a list of committee members.   For questions or comments about CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.