CMS Accepting Grant Applications for SUPPORT Act Demonstration Project
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Friday released a
notice of funding opportunity to solicit applications for the
Substance Use Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment Act (SUPPORT) 36-month demonstration project.
Open only to the 15 states receiving planning grants, the demonstration project is intended to increase treatment capacity of Medicaid-participating providers to provide substance use disorder (SUD) treatment and recovery services.
CMS also released a technical
supplement that provides information about how the agency will implement the
SUPPORT Act payment provision for those states selected for the demonstration.
The agency will host an informational webinar for applicants on Thursday, July 29 (and will provide information on that later) and is expected to issue awards on Sept. 10. The period of performance is between September 2021 and September 2024.
Survey Shows 84% of Americans Want to Continue Receiving Mental Health Treatment via Telehealth After Pandemic
A recent online survey of more than 1,000 Americans shows that 74% of respondents said their provider made virtual mental health services available during the Covid-19 pandemic, while 84% said they want to continue receiving mental health treatment via telehealth services after the pandemic ends.
Market research company Propeller Insights conducted the survey on behalf of DrFirst, which published a survey last October that found 44% of Americans used telehealth services during the pandemic, although some admitted they multitasked and did not pay close attention during their appointments.
In the May 2021 survey, 68% of respondents said the pandemic had worsened their mental health, while 17% said they sought mental health assistance for the first time.
NABH Sends Comments to ONDCP on National Drug Control Strategy
NABH this week provided a series of recommendations to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) on the office’s biennial National Drug Control Strategy.
In a
letter to Regina LaBelle, ONDCP’s acting director, NABH offered detail suggestions related to telehealth and the Covid-19 pandemic, Medicare and Medicaid, contingency management, workforce management, and medication assisted treatment (MAT).
“The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) should review Medicare, Medicare Advantage, and Qualified Health Plan reimbursement levels and strategies for substance use treatment services (for telehealth and non-telehealth services alike) to bring reimbursement for addiction providers to levels that are more consistent with their education, credentialing, and medical peers,” NABH President and CEO Shawn Coughlin wrote, adding later that Medicare should cover all intermediate levels of care for addiction treatment (e.g., freestanding intensive outpatient, partial hospitalization, residential) for substance use disorders and reimburse facility fees; collaborate with stakeholders to establish new conditions of participation.
Other suggestions include recommending that all workforce data collection and reporting efforts at the U.S. Labor Department separate substance use from mental health providers and services, and that the U.S. Justice Department assure individuals with a substance use disorder have access to all forms of MAT while in jail and prison.
NABH Asks OSHA to Delay ETS Compliance Deadline
NABH on July 1 sent a
letter to the U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requesting that the agency delay the compliance deadline for its workplace safety rule.
Last month OSHA released the rule, known as the Covid-19 Health Care Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS), to protect workers from exposure to the virus that causes Covid-19. Essential requirements of the ETS include, but are not limited to: developing and implementing a plan for each workplace; designating workplace safety coordinator(s), knowledgeable in infection control principles and practices, with the authority to implement, monitor, and ensure compliance with the plan; conducting a workplace-specific hazard assessment; and seeking the involvement of nonmanagerial employees and their representatives in the hazard assessment and plan’s development and implementation.
“The new Covid-19 ETS final rule is long and complex,” NABH President and CEO Shawn Coughlin wrote in the association’s letter to James Frederick, acting assistant secretary of labor at OSHA. “It establishes many very specific requirements related to patient screenings, personal protective equipment, physical barriers, cleaning and disinfection, ventilation, vaccination, training, recordkeeping, reporting, etc. These provisions will likely require significant changes in the policies and procedures healthcare providers have already implemented to prevent Covid-19 infection.”
The letter also said it’s important to consider the effects of the new requirements in the context of the challenges behavioral healthcare providers are currently facing. “Mental health and addiction treatment providers continue to experience increased need for their services as indicated by the dramatic increase in drug overdose deaths over the past year and continued elevated levels of anxiety and depression and suicidal ideation,” the letter said, adding that emergency department visits for mental health reasons were up 31% among children and adolescents earlier this year, and suspected suicide attempts were up 51% among teenage girls.
NABH requested that OSHA delay the compliance deadline for the ETS—which became effective immediately when it was published in the
Federal Register on June 17— for at least an additional six months.
SAMHSA to Host Third Webinar on Future of Telehealth Services in Drug Courts on July 21
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will host the final installment of its virtual learning community series on the future of telehealth services in drug courts on Wednesday, July 21.
This last part of this three-part series will provide guidance on what to consider when delivering treatment court services in virtual formats, including both court proceedings and treatment services. The webinar will also feature a brief review of essential services elements, policies, and procedures necessary to support effective delivery, as well as strategies for ongoing quality assurance and ideas on how to track appropriate outcomes.
The webinar will be held on Wednesday, July 21 at 1 p.m. ET, and a discussion segment will follow at 2 p.m. ET. Click
here to register.
Reminder: NABH Denial-of-Care Portal is Open to Members
NABH’s Denial-of-Care Portal is a new resource for members to provide information about their experiences with managed care organizations that impose barriers to care through insurance-claim denials.
NABH’s Managed Care Committee worked for more than a year to develop the Denial-of-Care Portal as a way to collect specific data on insurers who deny care—often without regard for parity or the effects on patients.
This NABH member-only, survey-like tool allows users to add the name of a managed care organization, type of plan, level of care, type of care (mental health or substance use disorder), duration of approved treatment, duration of unapproved treatment, criteria used to deny a claim, and more.
The portal allows members to submit individual examples of claim denials or upload multiple entries via Excel. It also includes sections on appeals and physician participation. In time, the tool could be a valuable resource for the NABH team’s advocacy efforts.
Please e-mail
Emily Wilkins, NABH’s administrative coordinator, if you have questions about the portal.
Register Today for the NABH 2021 Annual Meeting!
Registration is open for the NABH 2021 Annual Meeting from Wednesday, Oct. 6 – Friday, Oct. 8, 2021 at the Mandarin Oriental Washington, DC.
We hope you join us as we recognize our meeting theme,
Expanding Access: Right Care. Right Setting. Right Time.
Please visit our Annual Meeting
webpage to register for the meeting and to reserve your hotel room. We look forward to seeing you in Washington!
Fact of the Week
A new
study in
JAMA Psychiatry found that of the 14.1 million adults reported having alcohol use disorder (AUD), only 7.3% reported receiving any AUD treatment, and an even smaller percentage—1.6%–reported using medications for AUD.
