Former U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.), Addiction Recovery Champion, Dies at 74
Former U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.), a champion for addiction recovery, died Thursday at the age of 74.
Ramstad, who had been ailing from Parkinson’s Disease, channeled his personal battle with addiction to become a strong advocate for recovery. He represented Minnesota’s third district in the U.S. House of Representatives for nine terms before he retired in 2009.
The Minnesota Republican was the chief sponsor for the
Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, the bill that opened access to treatment for millions of Americans suffering from mental illness or chemical addiction.
News outlets reporting Ramstad’s death described how the former congressman’s personal battle with alcoholism spurred him to help others battling addiction. The stories also mentioned Ramstad’s arrest for disorderly conduct while he served in the Minnesota state legislature, the event that caused him to give up drinking.
“If I had not wound up in that jail cell, I would not have sought treatment,” Ramstad told
The New York Times in 2006.
Ramstad celebrated his 39
th year of sobriety at his death, according to news reports.
Federal Court Orders Class-Wide Remedies in Wit v. United Behavioral Health
NABH legal consultant and psychotherapist Meiram Bendat, Ph.D., J.D., sent the following summary to NABH this week regarding the remedies in the
Wit v. United Behavioral Health case:
In its 99-page ruling, the court explained the need for: (1) a 10-year injunction requiring UBH to exclusively apply medical necessity criteria developed by non-profit clinical specialty associations; (2) appointment of a special master; (3) training of UBH in the proper use of court-ordered medical necessity criteria; and (4) reprocessing of nearly 67,000 mental health and substance use disorder benefit claims denied during the class period.
Today’s ruling stems from two consolidated class actions, Wit et al. v. United Behavioral Health. and Alexander et al. v. United Behavioral Health, brought by Psych-Appeal, Inc. and Zuckerman Spaeder LLP under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) in 2014, certified in 2016, and tried in October 2017. While nearly 50,000 ERISA insureds will be eligible for class-wide relief in this case, non-ERISA insureds (such as governmental employees) adversely impacted by UBH’s defective guidelines must rely on state and federal regulators to intervene on their behalf.
I trust that you recognize the significance of today’s ruling as much as we do.
-Meiram Bendat, Ph.D., J.D., Founder and President, Psych Appeal
DEA Publishes Regulations to Implement the Controlled Substances Act and the Preventing Drug Diversion Act
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) this week published regulations to implement amendments that the 2018
SUPPORT Act made to the
Controlled Substances Act. The regulations became effective on Friday, Oct. 30 and appeared in the
Federal Register on Nov. 2.
The updated regulations:
- Allow a practitioner to treat up to 100 patients if a practitioner meets additional credentialing requirements, or if the practitioner provides covered medications (MAT) in a qualified practice setting, and up to 275 patients if the practitioner meet specific additional requirements (42 CFR 8.610-8.655);
- Permanently include nurse practitioner or physician assistant in the definition of ”qualifying other practitioner,” and temporarily expand the definition (until Oct. 1, 2023) to include a clinical nurse specialist, certified registered nurse anesthetist, or a certified nurse midwife who meets certain qualifications;
- Provide an additional option for a physician to be considered a ”qualifying physician” if the physician graduates in good standing from an accredited school of allopathic medicine or osteopathic medicine in the United States five years prior to notifying HHS of his or her intention to dispense narcotic drugs for maintenance or detoxification treatment. This does not eliminate the SUPPORT Act’s eight-hour opioid training requirement; rather, it permits the training to be completed in medical school or residency, not just through post-residency continuing medical education; and
- Permit pharmacies to deliver a controlled substance to a prescribing practitioner’s location for the purpose of administering the medication (through implantation or injection) to the patient or research subject, as previously permitted under a DEA exception. This permits administration directly in the provider’s office without requiring a trip to the pharmacy.
In separate
rulemaking, the DEA proposed its intention to amend the
Preventing Drug Diversion Act of 2018 related to the identifying and reporting of suspicious orders by DEA registrants. The proposal offers a two-option framework for reporting suspicious orders, establishes a centralized database for reporting, defines four terms: “due diligence,” “order,” “order received under suspicious circumstances,” and
“suspicious order,” and requires registrants to design and operate privacy-law-compliant systems.
The provisions are intended to clarify procedures for registrants and address a lack of uniformity in reporting suspicious orders. Comments are due by Monday, Jan. 4, 2021.
HHS Extends Compliance Deadline for Information Blocking and Health IT Certification
The U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS) recently released an interim final rule that gives healthcare providers and vendors an additional five months to comply with healthcare information blocking and interoperability regulations by April 5, 2021.
In March, HHS’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) released a
21st Century Cures Act final rule that established exceptions to the
Cures Act’s information blocking provision and adopted new health information technology (health IT) certification requirements to improve patients’ smartphone access to their health information at no cost through application programming interfaces.
The new interim final rule extends dates in the information blocking provisions—including a November compliance deadline for providers—as well as dates for the Conditions and Maintenance of Certification provisions that require electronic health records platforms to be interoperable. This is the second time HHS has extended the compliance deadline due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We are hearing that while there is strong support for advancing patient access and clinician coordination through the provisions in the final rule, stakeholders also must manage the needs being experienced during the current pandemic,” Don Rucker, M.D., national coordinator for health IT, said in an
announcement. “To be clear, ONC is
not removing the requirements advancing patient access to their health information that are outlined in the
Cures Act final rule,” he continued. “Rather, we are providing additional time to allow everyone in the health care ecosystem to focus on Covid-19 response.”
The rules require that various types of clinical notes be shared with patients, although the rules do
not apply to “psychotherapy notes recorded in any medium by a healthcare provider who is a mental health professional documenting or analyzing the contents of a conversation during a private counseling session or a group, joint, or family counseling session and that are separate from the rest of the individual’s medical record,” according to a
summary.
Reminder: DOL’s Rural Healthcare Workforce Training Grant Applications Due Nov. 13
The U.S. Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) will accept applications for its H-1B Rural Healthcare Grant Program until next Friday, Nov. 13.
Earlier this fall, ETA announced $40 million in available grant funding for employment and training programs in healthcare occupations—including behavioral and mental healthcare—that serve rural populations.
According to the announcement, employment and training programs through this funding can propose a wide range of models, including Registered Apprenticeship Programs and Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship Programs. Pre-apprenticeships are permitted only “as on-ramps” to apprenticeship programs proposed as a response to the funding notice and must lead to apprenticeships during the life of the grant.
Click
here to learn more about the training programs and
here to learn how to apply for the funding.
Bipartisan Policy Center to Host Telehealth Webinar Next Week
Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), Maine healthcare providers, and Bipartisan Policy Center experts will lead a webinar about the future of telehealth next Friday, Nov. 13 at noon ET.
The webinar will address the investments and changes that both policymakers and healthcare providers need to make to sustain access to quality healthcare through telehealth.
Click
here to learn more and to register.
NABH to Host Next Annual Meeting in October 2021
NABH is pleased to announce it will host its 2021 Annual Meeting from Wednesday, Oct. 6 – Friday, Oct. 8, 2021 at the Mandarin Oriental Washington, DC.
The association re-scheduled for this later date in 2021 due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. We hope you can join us!
After 2021, NABH will host its subsequent Annual Meetings in June. Please save the date for these future NABH Annual Meetings:
- June 13-15, 2022
- June 12-14, 2023
Thank you for all you do to advance NABH’s mission and vision. We look forward to seeing you in Washington next year!
Fact of the Week
Individuals with a serious mental illness have an average life
expectancy 10 to 25 years lower than the rest of the population.
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.