CMS Behavioral Health Strategy Aims to Strengthen Equity, Improve Quality, and Provide Outreach to Beneficiaries
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released
The CMS Behavioral Health Strategy, a five-goal plan that aims to remove barriers to care and services and also adopt a data-informed approach to evaluate the agency’s behavioral health programs and policies.
Noting that the strategy “will strive to support a person’s whole emotional and mental well-being and promotes person-centered behavioral healthcare,” CMS set the following five goals: 1) strengthen equity and quality in behavioral healthcare, 2) improve access to substance use disorders treatment, prevention, and recovery services, 3) ensure effective pain treatment and management, 4) improve access and quality of mental healthcare and services, and 5) utilize data for effective actions and impact on behavioral health.
Click
here to learn about the objectives in each of those goals.
SAMHSA Announces New Director of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) this week named
Yngvild Olsen, M.D., M.P.H. as the new director of the agency’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.
An addiction medicine specialist and general internist, Olsen began her career as the medical director for the outpatient substance use treatment services while serving as a full-time assistant professor in the department of medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
From 2011 to 2021, Olsen served as medical director for the Institutes for Behavior Resources/REACH Health Services, a comprehensive outpatient substance use disorder treatment program in Baltimore City.
ONDCP Director Rahul Gupta to Address Attendees at NABH Annual Meeting
NABH is pleased to announce that Director of National Drug Control Policy Rahul Gupta, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., FACP will address attendees at the 2022 Annual Meeting on Tuesday, June 14.
Dr. Gupta is the first medical doctor to serve as director and lead the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), a component of the Executive Office of the President. ONDCP coordinates the nation’s $40 billion drug budget and federal policies, including prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery support, and supply reduction.
Through his work as a physician, a state and local leader, an educator, and a senior leader of a national nonprofit organization, Dr. Gupta has dedicated his career to improving public health and public safety.
He is also a buprenorphine-waivered practitioner, who has provided medication-assisted treatment for people with opioid use disorder.
The son of an Indian diplomat, Dr. Gupta was born in India and grew up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. At age 21, he completed medical school at the University of Delhi and later completed subspecialty training in pulmonary medicine. Dr. Gupta earned a master’s degree in public health from the University of Alabama-Birmingham and a global master’s of business administration degree from the London School of Business and Finance.
If you have not done so yet, please visit our Annual Meeting homepage and
register today. We look forward to seeing you in Washington!
In Case You Missed It: Kennedy Forum Parity Webinar Recording Now Available
NABH President and CEO Shawn Coughlin participated in a webinar about mental health and substance use disorder treatment parity on Tuesday, April 26 with federal health officials and healthcare organization leaders.
Coughlin joined fellow presenters HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, Ph.D., The Kennedy Forum founder and former U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.), and American Medical Association President Patrice Harris, M.D. to discuss the Biden administration’s commitment to ensuring parity implementation, the recent
Wit v. United Behavioral Health ruling, and ongoing problems with parity compliance. David Lloyd, senior policy advisor at The Kennedy Forum, moderated the event.
During the webinar, Delphin-Rittmon, who serves as administrator of SAMHSA, discussed three parity resources that SAMHSA has developed to help patient families, providers, and policymakers understand parity:
Know Your Rights,
Understanding Parity: A Guide to Resources for Families and Caretakers, and
The Essential Aspects of Parity: A Training Tool for Policymakers.
NABH was the lead sponsor for this webinar and live Tweeted during the event. Click
here to watch the recorded broadcast.
BPC to Host Webinar Monday on Combating the Opioid Crisis with Smarter Federal Spending
The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) will host a webinar on Monday, May 2 about new recommendations centered on enhancing federal spending and improving the federal response to America’s ongoing opioid crisis.
Participants include Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Rahul Gupta, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., FACP; Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.); American Medical Association President Patrice Harris, M.D.; former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, M.D.; and former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala.
The hour-long webinar will begin at 1 p.m. ET. Click
here to register.
Mental Health Awareness Month Starts Sunday!
Mental Health Month kicks off this Sunday, May 1 to raise awareness about mental health in America.
Mental Health America (MHA), which established the monthly observance in 1949, will commemorate Mental Health 2022 with the theme “
Back to Basics” to provide what MHA has referred to as “foundational knowledge” about mental health, mental health conditions, and information about what people can do if their mental health is cause for concern.
SAMHSA’s National Prevention Week is May 8-14 and the agency will commemorate the 18
th annual National Prevention Day on Monday, May 9. Click
here for an agenda of the day’s events.
And please remember to follow NABH on Twitter
@NABHbehavioral and on LinkedIn at the
National Association for Behavioral Healthcare throughout the month to learn what NABH members, federal agencies, and advocacy organizations are doing to promote Mental Health Month.
NABH Working to Enhance Denial-of-Care Portal
NABH’s Denial-of-Care Portal is temporarily unavailable as the association works to enhance features of this member-only resource.
The portal was developed so NABH members could submit individual examples of claim denials or upload multiple entries via Excel. It also includes sections on appeals and physician participation and is intended to help the association in its advocacy efforts with policymakers and regulators.
NABH will keep members apprised when the updated portal is ready to use.
Fact of the Week
Mental health, developmental disorders, and substance use disorders collectively accounted for 48% of all telehealth claims, according to a new
report from FAIR Health, a national, not-for-profit organization that produces data products and consumer resources about transparency in healthcare costs and health insurance.
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.