NABH Releases ‘Residential Treatment: A Vital Component of the Behavioral Healthcare Continuum’
NABH this week released
Residential Treatment: A Vital Component of the Behavioral Healthcare Continuum, a white paper that emphasizes the importance and effectiveness of psychiatric residential treatment services for children and adolescents.
Together the NABH team and Youth Services Committee developed the paper as a resource for policymakers, regulators, the media, and other stakeholders to help explain how and why residential treatment is a vital component in the behavioral healthcare continuum—and how children and adolescents benefit from services in this setting.
NABH has posted the paper on the association’s new Youth Services
page, which also includes shareable social media messages about the paper’s content for members to post on Twitter and LinkedIn. NABH urges all members to share the link to the new page and the messages with your teams.
If you have questions about the paper or a comment to share with the Youth Services Committee, please contact
John Snook, NABH’s director of government relations and strategic initiatives, who serves as the association’s staff liaison to the committee.
President Biden Signs Legislation to Extend Suspension of Medicare Sequestration
President Biden on Wednesday signed
legislation to exempt Medicare from sequestration—a process of automatic, across-the-board, spending cuts—until Dec. 31, 2021.
Late last year, the
Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 provided a three-month extension of the Medicare sequestration moratorium, which expired on March 31.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a
notice in late March that said the agency would hold Medicare claims with service dates on or after April 1 “for a short period” to ensure providers would not be affected by the sequester’s 2% cut to payments.
Biden Administration Requests Investments in Mental Health and SUD Services for FY 2022
President Biden’s recent request for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 discretionary funding asks Congress to make significant investments to expand access to mental healthcare services, help end America’s opioid crisis, and prioritize the physical and mental well-being of the nation’s students.
Sometimes referred to as the president’s “skinny budget,” the White House’s discretionary funding
request was sent late last week to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, ahead of the president’s official budget in the coming months. As with the president’s formal budget, this funding request from the Office of Management and Budget is significant for highlighting the president’s priorities.
“The opioid epidemic has shattered families, claimed lives, and ravaged communities across the nation—and the Covid-19 pandemic has only deepened this crisis,” OMB Acting Director Shalanda D. Young wrote in the request. “That is why the discretionary request includes a historic investment of $10.7 billion, an increase of $3.9 billion over the 2021 enacted level, to support research, prevention, treatment, and recovery support services, with targeted investments to support populations with unique needs, including Native Americans, older Americans, and rural populations.”
The discretionary funding request also builds on the recent
American Rescue Plan in providing $1.6 billion—more than double the 2021 enacted level—for the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant.
It also asks for $1 billion to increase the number of counselors, nurses, and mental health professionals in schools, as well as $430 million for Full Service Community Schools, which provide comprehensive, wrap-around services to students and their families, from after-school programs to adult education opportunities, and health and nutrition services.
MACPAC’s April 2021 Public Meeting Addresses Behavioral Health
The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) included several presentations related to behavioral health at its recent public meeting.
The two-day event addressed
Access to Mental Health Services for Adults, Access to Behavioral Health Services for Children and Youth, Electronic Health Records as a Tool for Integration of Behavioral Health Services, and
Promoting Physical and Clinical Integration Through EHRs.
NABH has posted the presentations on the association’s website; click
here to learn more.
Manatt Health and AMA to Host Webinars on 2020 Roadmap to End National Drug Overdose Crisis
Research firm Manatt Health and the American Medical Association (AMA) will host a series of webinars to highlight various topics addressed in the
2020 National Roadmap on State-Level Efforts to End the Nation’s Drug Overdose Epidemic, which the two organizations released in December.
The first in this series, “Improving Access to Substance Use Disorder Treatment in Justice-Involved Settings,” is scheduled for Tuesday, April 20, and will feature presenters from the AMA, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and North Carolina’s Health and Human Services Department.
Click
here to register for the free webinar.
NCOA to Host Older Adult Mental Health Awareness Day Symposium on May 6
The National Council on Aging (NCOA), along with the U.S. Administration for Community Living and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will host the 4
th Annual Older Adult Mental Health Awareness Day Symposium as a virtual event on Thursday, May 6.
Registration is free, and the all-day event for public health practitioners, professionals in the aging networks, mental health providers, healthcare professionals, and others interested in the mental health of older adults will address topics such as access to behavioral health in diverse older adults, latest interventions related to SUDs, and socialization and engagement.
Learn more from the program’s
agenda and click
here to register.
Save the Date: NABH 2021 Annual Meeting
NABH will host its 2021 Annual Meeting from Wednesday, Oct. 6 – Friday, Oct. 8, 2021 at the Mandarin Oriental Washington, DC.
The association re-scheduled for this later date in 2021 due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. We hope you can join us!
After 2021, NABH will host its subsequent Annual Meetings in June. Please save the date for these future NABH Annual Meetings:
We look forward to seeing you again in Washington!
Fact of the Week
Female nurses die by suicide at twice the rate of the general population, according to a new study in
JAMA Psychiatry.
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.
