HHS Secretary Becerra Launches National Tour to Strengthen Mental Health
U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra on Thursday kicked off the National Tour to Strengthen Mental Health as a way to hear directly from Americans about their behavioral health challenges and engage with local officials to strengthen the mental health and crisis care systems in the United States.
The move came two days after President Biden announced his administration’s
strategy to address America’s mental health crisis during the president’s first State of the Union address. Part of a broader “unity agenda,” the strategy aims to strengthen system capacity, connect more Americans to care, and create healthy environments where the country’s health and social services infrastructure addresses mental health holistically and equitably.
“The pandemic has not only taken a physical toll on all of us, but also brought on greater behavioral health challenges for everyone,” Becerra said in an announcement. “From small towns to big cities, I’ll be traveling nationwide with members of my leadership team to meet with people who have been hit particularly hard and partnering with local leaders to find ways to save lives in our communities.”
In the coming months, Becerra will make announcements about new initiatives and resources from HHS, such as increasing the number of behavioral health professionals and community and behavioral health supporter workers in underserved and under-resourced communities, expanding pediatric mental healthcare access through telehealth services, and transitioning to the national 988 behavioral health crisis hotline that will begin operating in July.
New CDC Data Show U.S. Suicides Peaked in 2018
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week reported that after rising from 2000 to 2018, the age-adjusted suicide rate in the United States declined after peaking in 2018.
Suicide dropped to the 10
th leading cause of death from the 12
th leading cause in 2020, “due to the emergence of Covid–19 deaths and increases in deaths from chronic liver disease and cirrhosis,” the CDC reported in
Suicide Mortality in the United States, 2000-2020.
The new findings also showed that suicide rates were three to four times higher for males compared with females from 2000 through 2020. And for females, firearm-related suicide recently replaced poisoning as the leading means of suicide.
CMS Publishes Report to Congress on Medicaid Managed Care Regulations
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released a
report to Congress that focuses on coverage of services received in Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) by managed care plans through states in lieu of services (ILOS) authority.
Required by the
21st Century Cures Act, the report found that the majority of states that cover inpatient behavioral health treatments through risk-based managed care use the IMD ILOS authority, and that states primary rationale for using this authority is to increase access to behavioral health services.
Joint Commission Issues Statement on Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act
The Joint Commission recently released a statement after Congress passed the
Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act.
Passed in February, the legislation seeks to reduce and prevent suicide, burnout, and mental and behavioral health conditions among healthcare professionals. Lorna Breen was a physician who served as emergency room director at New York Presbyterian Hospital and died by suicide in April 2020 while on a break visiting family in Virginia.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has increased to a devastating degree with the amount of burnout and stress among physicians, nurses and other health care providers,” Ana Pujols McKee, M.D. said in the statement. Pujols McKee serves as The Joint Commission’s interim president and CEO, executive vice president, chief medical officer, and chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer. “While we share in the deep sadness of Dr. Breen’s death from across the health care community, it is not without hope for positive change,” Pujols McKee continued. “It is critical that we increase awareness and provide resources to support our nation’s health care providers as they continue to work tirelessly into the third year of the pandemic.”
The Joint Commission’s announcement said research has shown that clinicians fear seeking mental health treatment because of questions related to their mental health history.
Click
here to read a statement from The Joint Commission about removing barriers to mental health for clinicians and other providers;
here to read a “Quick Safety” on promoting psychosocial well-being of healthcare staff during a crisis; and
here to read the organization’s sentinel alert regarding the well-being of healthcare staff.
The
Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act is awaiting President Biden’s signature.
Register for National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week: March 21-27, 2022
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) invites organizations to participate in National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week (NDAFW), a national health observance meant to empower teens and young adults about making informed decisions about drugs, alcohol, and addiction.
NIDA has developed five
steps to hosting a NDAFW event and created lesson
plans and other materials for educators, counselors, and prevention specialists.
Please click
here to learn how to register your organization’s event online.
Reminder: NABH Denial-of-Care Portal is Open to Members
NABH’s Denial-of-Care Portal is available 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 NABH’s 2022 Annual Meeting!
Please visit our Annual Meeting
homepage to view the 2022 Annual Meeting At-A-Glance for preliminary meeting details, register for the meeting, and reserve a hotel room.
We hope to see you in Washington from June 13-15!
Fact of the Week
For the first time, Black Americans are dying from drug overdoses at a higher rate than white Americans, according to a new
study in JAMA. The report suggests that the high potency of the illicit drug supply may be disproportionately harming racial and ethnic minoritized communities.
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.