Congress Agrees to $5.9 Billion for SAMHSA in FY 2020 Spending Bill Package
Federal lawmakers this week agreed to fund the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) at $5.9 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2020, $140 million above the 2019 enacted level and $205 million above the president’s budget request.
The funding is part of the two legislative packages that include all 12 FY 2020 funding bills, which the House passed on Tuesday, Dec. 17. The Senate is scheduled to vote on the spending bills Friday.
SAMHSA’s funding included $3.8 billion for substance abuse treatment, $206 million for substance abuse prevention, $16 million for suicide prevention, $19 million for the Suicide Lifeline, and an increase in funding for mental health resources for children.
President Trump is expected to sign the full funding package.
NABH Participates in White House Mental Health Summit
NABH participated in the White House Mental Health Summit on Dec. 19, where President Trump underscored his administration’s commitment to addressing serious mental illness in the United States.
Shawn Coughlin, NABH’s executive vice president for government relations and public policy, and Scott Dziengelski, director of policy and regulation, attended the summit, where attendees heard from HHS Secretary Alex Azar and SAMHSA Assistant Secretary Ellie McCance-Katz moderated a panel discussion with mental health advocates about the need for reform.
NABH also submitted questions, and part of the discussion centered on Medicaid’s Institution for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion.
NABH Calls on Congress to Examine Insurers and Parity Following GAO Report
NABH this week called on Congress to hold oversight hearings to examine whether the nation’s insurers are complying with parity following the release of a Government Accountability Office (GAO)
report on Dec. 13.
The GAO’s 67-page report evaluated the practices, policies, and guidance from the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Labor Department (DOL), the two federal offices that oversee compliance with the
Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.
In its review, GAO found that both HHS and DOL “conduct targeted reviews of certain employer-sponsored group plans when they receive information—such as consumer complaints—about possible noncompliance with MH/SU parity requirements or other federal healthcare requirements.”
Consequently, NABH is urging federal lawmakers to hold congressional hearings early in the New Year to study the issue and learn more.
“For years, NABH has heard from our members—who receive complaints from patients and withstand parity violations every day—that the current compliance process is woefully inadequate to determine whether health plans are following the law,” NABH’s Shawn Coughlin said in a news
release. “This is unacceptable.”
CMS Releases Informational Bulletin on Dual Eligibles Receiving OTP Services
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) this week released an
Informational Bulletin that provides guidance on coverage for Medicare and Medicaid dual-eligible beneficiaries who receive opioid treatment program (OTP) services.
Revisions to the Physician Fee Schedule (CY 2020) allow for a new OTP bundled payment benefit under Medicare, which replaces Medicaid as the primary payer for OTP services for the dual-eligible population. The new benefit is effective January 1, 2020; however, not all OTP providers will have completed Medicare enrollment by that time.
To assure continuity of patient care, states must pay OTP claims for Medicaid state plan covered services for Medicaid enrolled providers while Medicare enrollments are being completed. The new guidance from CMS provides information to state Medicaid agencies about strategies for continuing to pay for OTP services, including continuing to pay for claims for a specified period, and advising OTPs to submit claims only after their Medicare enrollment has been approved.
CMS recommends that states communicate with Medicaid managed care plans that cover OTP benefits, as well as with providers to advise them to enroll in Medicare.
Federal Survey Shows Adolescent Marijuana Vaping Surged in 2019
The latest
Monitoring the Future survey showed that increases in adolescent marijuana vaping from 2018 to 2019 ranked among the largest single-year increases the survey has observed in the past 45 years among all outcomes measured.
In 2019, the percentage of adolescents who had vaped in the last 12 months was 21% in 12
th grade, 19% in 10
th grade, and 7% in 8
th grade.
Nicotine vaping also increased, as the survey showed 35% of 12
th graders reported vaping nicotine in the last 12 months, an increase of 5.6 points from 2018. Similarly, 31% of 10
th graders reported vaping nicotine in the last year, reflecting an increase of 6.1 percentage points from 2018.
Also this week, SAMHSA released
Substance Misuse Prevention for Young Adults, a guide to help healthcare providers, systems, and communities prevent substance misuse among young adults.
CMS Announces $50 Million in Funding to 10 States for Maternal Opioid Misuse Model
CMS on Thursday said 10 states will receive a total of $50 million over five years funding under the Maternal Opioid Misuse, or MOM, model to help pregnant and postpartum Medicaid beneficiaries with opioid use disorder.
Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia were granted the awards, which they will use to transition into the model of care and then implement their plans.
Click
here to learn more.
New JAMA Study Shows Most Opioid Deaths Are Accidental; 4% Are Suicide
Accidental overdoses cause 90% of all U.S. opioid-related deaths while suicides account for 4% of all opioid-related deaths, according to a new
study published in
JAMA this week.
In 2017, opioid-related deaths totaled about 47,500 and included 43,000 accidental deaths and 1,880 suicides. The cause of about 2,590 deaths could not be determined.
Government researchers analyzed death certificates for people aged 15 and older, and the findings contrast with a 2018 article in the
New England Journal of Medicine that estimated—based on emergency department data—that at least 20% to 30% of those deaths had been suicides.
Understanding that most overdoses are accidental “puts the primary focus of care more squarely on the patient’s addiction,” although physicians should still evaluate their mental health, too, Dr. Mark Olfson, a psychiatrist at Columbia University and co-author of the study, told the Associated Press in a story about the analysis.
Please Update Your NABH Member Information Today!
NABH is preparing the association’s 2020 Membership Directory and asks all members to provide the most up-to-date information on their organizations.
To help ensure we have the most accurate data on our members, please contact Emily Wilkins, NABH’s administrative coordinator, at
emily@nabh.org for a personalized link to enter information about your organization’s facilities.
The deadline to submit your information to NABH is
Thursday, Jan. 9.
Register Today for the 2020 NABH Annual Meeting!
This week NABH sent members and Annual Meeting attendees the first in a series of weekly alerts about the 2020 Annual Meeting.
Please visit NABH’s Annual Meeting
homepage today to view the Schedule At-a-Glance, learn about our
speakers, and to
register for the meeting. Also please be sure to make your hotel
reservation at the Mandarin Oriental Washington, DC from March 16-18, 2020.
NABH will post the Annual Meeting’s online preliminary program in January. We look forward to seeing you in Washington!
Fact of the Week
Among U.S. 12
th graders, the prevalence of marijuana
vaping increased 7.7 percentage points in 2019, reflecting the second largest increase in 12-month substance use ever recorded in this grade.
Happy Holidays from NABH!
NABH will not publish
CEO Update for the next two weeks and will resume on Friday, Jan. 10. The entire NABH team wishes you and your families a very happy holiday season!
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.