ONDCP Director Identifies Gaps and Proposes Better System for Tracking Nonfatal Overdoses
In a recent
JAMA commentary, the head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) said the lack of real-time data for both fatal and nonfatal drug overdoses in the United States undermines the ability to respond accountably and restricts the potential to understand the effects of actions and investments.
ONDCP Director Rahul Gupta, M.D., M.B.A., M.P.H., and David Holtgrave, Ph.D., also of ONDCP, argued that it’s essential to build the national data system while taking actions to prevent overdoses and save lives in the near term.
“Once established, this national system should rapidly yield higher-quality, more complete, more timely, and more actionable data to inform increasingly effective policy making to prevent and treat overdose occurrences and build health equity,” the authors wrote. “Doing so will require the partnership of many, but there is not a moment to lose.”
Uniform Law Commission Agrees to Propose a Bill to State Legislatures That to Create More Consistency in Telehealth Laws
Politico reported this week that the influential Uniform Law Commission agreed to propose legislation to state legislatures that would try to create more consistency in telehealth laws and expand access to care across state lines.
The commission nearly unanimously approved the model
legislation after two years of deliberations and guidance from the American Medical Association, Federal Trade Commission, state medical boards, and telehealth groups.
“It’s unclear how many states will move to create new laws around telehealth — or use the Uniform Law Commission’s model — but legislatures
have embraced past proposals on issues ranging from regulation of organ donation to taxation of people who work in multiple states,” the story noted.
HRSA Payment Program for Rural Health Clinic Buprenorphine-Trained Providers Still Open
The nation’s rural health clinics (RHCs) still have an opportunity to apply for funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) program that pays providers who are waivered to prescribe buprenorphine, a medication used to treat opioid use disorder.
Launched in 2021, HRSA’s program has about $1.2 million in program funding still available, and RHCs may apply for a $3,000 payment on behalf of each provider who trained to obtain the necessary waiver. HRSA said funds will be paid on a first-come, first-served basis until funds are exhausted.
Please direct any questions to
DATA2000WaiverPayments@hrsa.gov. In addition, the American Osteopathic Academy of Addiction Medicine and the Providers Clinical Support System are offering a free online course for waiver-eligibility training. Click
here for more information.
Enhanced NABH Denial-of-Care Portal is Now Available!
NABH has made enhancements to its Denial-of-Care Portal that are intended to make the portal easier for members to use.
A year ago, NABH developed the Denial-of-Care Portal to collect specific data on insurers who deny care—often without regard to parity or the effects on patients. Now the association has updated this resource to make it more user-friendly for members and also more aligned with what regulators need to identify parity violations.
The updated portal includes fewer questions, which will require less time for members to complete. In addition, all questions are now optional. NABH hopes this will make it more likely for members to share the data they have. Lastly, NABH has added a checklist of “red flags” that were included in the
2022 MHPAEA Report to Congress from the U.S. Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury Departments in January.
“We know the best way to advocate for parity enforcement with regulators is to provide hard data from our members that show how insurers are not complying with the landmark 2008 parity law,” said NABH President and CEO Shawn Coughlin. “We hope these new changes will make it easier—and faster—for our members to use so that we can gather that critical data.”
Please e-mail
Emily Wilkins, NABH’s administrative coordinator, if you have questions about the portal.
Save the Date for the NABH 2023 Annual Meeting!
Please mark your calendars and plan to join us at the Mandarin Oriental Washington, DC from
June 12-14, 2023 for next year’s NABH Annual Meeting!
Fact of the Week
Sixty-four percent of dual-eligible beneficiaries have a mental health diagnosis, according to a recent
profile from research firm. ATI Advisory.
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond