White House Asks Congress for $1.55 Billion to Address Nation’s Fentanyl Crisis
The Biden administration this week requested
$1.55 billion from Congress for HHS’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) State Opioid Response grants to provide treatment, harm reduction, and recovery support services in all states and territories to combat the nation’s ongoing fentanyl crisis.
“Thanks to historic funding and bipartisan efforts, the rate of overdose deaths is slowing after a period of exponential increase, access to treatment is expanding, and historic amounts of fentanyl are being seized at our borders,” the White House said in a
fact sheet about the Biden administration’s domestic spending requests to Congress. “But our work to beat the overdose epidemic is far from over and additional resources are needed to continue the Administration’s aggressive action to save lives.”
CDC: Healthcare Workers Report a Decrease in Odds of Burnout if They Trust Management
Healthcare workers continued to face a mental health crisis in 2022, although positive working conditions were associated with less burnout and better mental health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) concluded in a
Vital Signs report released this week.
From 2018 to 2022, healthcare workers reported an increase of 1.2 days of poor mental health during the previous 30 days (to 4.5 days from 3.3 days), while the percentage who reported feeling burnout very often increased to 19% from 11.6%, the findings showed. However, the report found healthcare workers experienced a decrease in odds of burnout if they trusted management, had supervisor help, had enough time to complete work, and felt their workplace supported productivity.
The report highlighted the CDC’s
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which has implemented efforts to promote the mental health and well-being of healthcare workers, including a national social marketing campaign, Impact Wellbeing, which emphasizes primary prevention strategies such as worker participation in decision-making, supportive supervision, and increasing psychological safety for help-seeking.
“NIOSH has also developed burnout training for supervisors of public health workers and through its efforts has emphasized improving the work environment, rather than asking workers to be more resilient or fix problems themselves,” the report said.
SAMHSA Summary Report Shows Climate Change is a Social Determinant of Mental Health
A recent SAMHSA
report concluded climate change is a social determinant of mental health; behavioral health systems should become “climate-informed;” and intergenerational trauma will be one of the layered effects of climate-related environmental change.
The report summarized the findings from SAMHSA’s August 2022 request for information that sought feedback about potential agency actions regarding mental health and substance use wellbeing in the context of climate change and health equity.
Respondents suggested SAMHSA should develop an agency-wide climate action plan to serve as a roadmap for change and integration of climate-informed behavioral health in SAMHSA research, programs, contracts, technical assistance, and reports.
They also said SAMHSA should support increased resources and allowable costs that shift behavioral health systems toward public behavioral health strategies for mental health promotion, substance use prevention, community-level response, and community-based mental health resilience.
“Respondents emphasized that a protective factor for healthcare workers is adequate training and preparation,” the report said. “Therefore, building out a climate-informed behavioral health system that provides resources to an increasingly diverse behavioral health workforce is protective to both the behavioral health workforce and the communities they serve,” it continued. “Timely and tailored interventions need to be designed in such a way that they can be altered over time to meet current and evolving needs.”
CMS Seeking Feedback to Improve Provider Resources
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is conducting a study to help the agency improve user experience with Medicare program and billing resources.
Responses are confidential, and the survey should take about 10 minutes to complete. Click
here to take the survey, which is due
Thursday, Nov. 9.
SAMHSA Releases 988 Lifeline Videos
SAMHSA has produced two new videos that promote the 988 Lifeline. Called “Impact of the 988 Lifeline” and “You Matter PSA,” the videos are included in SAMHSA’s 988 Partner
Toolkit.
In its announcement, SAMHSA noted that its 988 fact sheet, available in both
English and
Spanish, has been helpful in communicating about the 988 Lifeline’s services and successes.
Reminder: NABH’s Enhanced Denial-of-Care Portal is Now Available!
NABH thanks all members who have submitted data to the association’s
Denial-of-Care Portal. You have provided critical information that expands the portal and helps NABH strengthen its advocacy efforts related to erroneous prior-authorization denials.
With guidance from our members, NABH has improved the portal by adding two elements:
- Time-based data on the number of days between a request for coverage and a plan’s denial, which improves our ability to assess and compare health plan responsiveness.
- The gap between days of provided care versus days of covered care to quantify and compare uncompensated days per health plan.
We strongly encourage all NABH members to submit their denial-of-care data in the portal. If you need help starting, or if you have other questions, please e-mail NABH Associate Manager for Congressional Affairs
Emily Wilkins.
Reminder: The O’Neill Institute to Host Webinar on Recovery Housing Next Month
The O’Neill Institute’s
Addiction and Public Policy Initiative will host a webinar next month about the current state of recovery housing and the opportunities for improving recovery housing in the United States.
As the O’Neil Institute explains, social determinants, such as housing, and expanded access to medications for substance use disorder are part of effective, long-term solutions. National standards for recovery housing, along with protecting the rights of individuals under the law, are central to facilitating a needed societal shift and maximizing opportunities for people with substance use disorder.
Recognizing the critical role that housing plays in improving outcomes for people with substance use disorder (SUD), SAMHSA recently issued
Best Practices for Recovery Housing, and the U.S. Justice Department protects the rights of individuals with SUD afforded under the
Fair Housing Act and the
Americans with Disabilities Act.
Fact of the Week:
More than 1 million hospital emergency department visits are attributed annually to children and adolescents with a mental health disorder diagnosis, according to a new CDC
study.
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.