Biden Administration Announces More Than $1.6 Billion for Communities to Address Addiction & Overdose Crises
The U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS) on Friday announced it will award more than $1.6 billion in investments to communities nationwide to address America’s addiction and overdose crises.
Funding will come from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) State Opioid Response (SOR) program and Tribal Opioid Response (TOR) grant program and the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) rural communities’ opioid response programs.
“I have heard many stories of despair from individuals battling addiction and from families who have lost loved ones to overdose,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in the grant announcement. “Through these grants, we are investing in evidence-based supports and services for individuals, families, and communities on the road to recovery.”
Click
here to learn about the four individual grant opportunities.
Covid-19 PHE Will Likely Be Extended Due to Absence of 60-Day Termination Notice from HHS
The Covid-19 public health emergency (PHE) will most likely be extended for another 90 days after the PHE’s current Oct. 13, 2022 expiration date because HHS has not given states 60 days’ notice before termination.
In January 2021, HHS’s Administration for Strategic Preparedness & Response (ASPR0 sent a
letter to the nation’s governors outlining the commitment to a 60-day, PHE termination notice. HHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Sarah Lovenheim posted a message on Twitter this past Monday, Sept. 19, that assured states and providers there will be at least two months’ notice before the PHE is allowed to expire.
NABH will notify members about any updates related to the PHE’s end date.
National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare to Host Sept. 27 Webinar on Contingency Management
SAMHSA announced this week that the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare will host a webinar on Thursday, Sept. 29 that highlights how contingency management can help families affected by substance use disorders.
The webinar will provide an overview of contingency management, including details about implementation with different cultural populations. It will also show how Montefiore Medical Center in New York, a Regional Partnership Grant awardee, has implemented contingency management, and provide practical strategies for implementation.
The webinar will begin next Thursday at 1:30 p.m. ET. Click
here to register.
NIH-Led Study Shows Heart Medication Could Be Effective for Alcohol Use Disorder
A medication to treat heart problems and high blood pressure may also be effective for treating alcohol use disorder, according to a new study from researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and published in
Molecular Psychiatry.
The research shows evidence from experiments in mice and rats—as well as a cohort study in humans—that suggests the medication spironolactone could play a role in reducing alcohol drinking. Researchers from the NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, as well as from the Yale School of Medicine, produced the study.
“Combining findings across three species and different types of research studies, and then seeing similarities in those data, gives us confidence that we are onto something potentially important scientifically and clinically,” Lorenzo Leggio, M.D., Ph.D., chief of the clinical psychoneuroendocrinology and neuropsychopharmacology section, a joint laboratory of NIDA and NIAAA, and one of the senior authors, said in an announcement about the research. “These findings support further study of spironolactone as a potential treatment for alcohol use disorder, a medical condition that affects millions of people in the U.S.”
Enhanced NABH Denial-of-Care Portal is Now Available
NABH recently 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.
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 in Washington, DC from June 12-14, 2023 for next year’s NABH Annual Meeting!
Fact of the Week
Prenatal cannabis exposure following the middle of the first trimester is associated with attention, social, and behavioral problems in children that persist into early adolescence, according to a recent study in
JAMA Pediatrics based on
research funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.
