SAMHSA Distributes $11 million to Train First Responders & Community Groups on Overdose Prevention
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has distributed 13 grants totaling $11 million to reduce the number of prescription drug and overdose-related deaths and adverse events by training first responders and other essential community groups.
SAMHSA’s announcement said grantees will receive up to $850,000 per year over five years for a total of $55.2 million (this distribution was for the first year).
“The more SAMHSA does to equip communities across the country to prevent fatal overdoses, the more opportunities our loved ones will have to pursue treatments for substance use disorders and experience long-term recovery,” HHS Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use Miriam E. Delphin-Rittmon, Ph.D. said in an announcement. “This is a need that preceded the Covid-19 pandemic and has only grown more urgent over the course of the past 18 months,” added Rittmon, who leads SAMHSA.
Click
here to see a full list of the grant recipients.
Kaiser Family Foundation Examines Pandemic’s Effects on Parents and Children
A new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation has found that 36% of parents say their child fell behind in their social and emotional development, and about 29% said their child experienced mental health or behavioral health problems due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Kaiser’s latest
Covid-19 Vaccine Monitor examines the pandemic’s effects on children’s academic and social development as a new school year approaches. Among the study’s notable conclusions is a finding that parents whose children attended school all or mostly online, or who had a mix of online and in-person schooling, were more likely than parents whose child attended school all or mostly in-person to say they had a child who had these adverse effects, even after controlling for other demographic factors and type of school setting.
The study also showed that 42% of parents reported that their children experienced at least one new mental health symptom in the past 12 months that they had not experienced before the pandemic, including difficulty concentrating on schoolwork (27%), problems with nervousness or being easily scared or worried (19%), trouble sleeping (18%), poor appetite or overeating (15%), and frequent headaches or stomachaches (11%).
SAMHSA Releases Guide About Report to Congress on Preventing and Reducing Underage Drinking
SAMHSA has released a user’s guide about the agency’s report to Congress on how to prevent and reduce underage drinking.
The brief
resource provides an overview of the report for prevention professionals, state and local agencies, and community-based organizations.
Ohio State Seeks Providers for Study on Traumatic Brain Injury Screening in Behavioral Healthcare Organizations
The Ohio State University College of Social Work is conducting a study to understand behavioral health providers’ attitudes and beliefs about screening for traumatic brain injury (TBI) in behavioral healthcare organizations.
The university is currently seeking licensed behavioral health providers in the United States (i.e., psychologists, social workers, counselors, nurses, psychiatrists) to participate in this web-based study. Survey respondents will be asked to complete an online training on how to screen for TBI (approximately 30-45 minutes) and complete a 15-minute survey. Participants will receive a certificate of completion for one continuing education (CE) credit for completing the training, and also will be enrolled for the chance to win a $50 gift card. There will be 55 winners from the gift card drawing.
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke is funding the study (Grant #1F31NS124263-01), and Ph.D. candidate Kathryn A. Coxe is leading it. For additional information or questions, please contact Kathryn at:
coxe.6@osu.edu.
Click
here to participate in the study.
Joint Commission to Start 11-part Behavioral Healthcare Accreditation Webinar Series on Aug. 28
The Joint Commission will present an 11-part Behavioral Healthcare and Human Services Accreditation Webinar Series to help providers prepare their staffs to maintain compliance.
Session topics include information management, medication management, infection prevention and control, patient safety, environment of care, and more. The Joint Commission will present the series—which will be made available Aug. 28—on demand so that organization teams can view the webinars when it’s convenient for them.
Click
here to learn more, including information about special healthcare system discounts.
Center for Rural Opioid Prevention, Treatment & Recovery to Host Webinar Aug. 31
The Center for Rural Opioid Prevention, Treatment & Recovery (CROP+TR) will host a webinar later this month to review the prevalence of methamphetamine use and co-use with opioids, the effect of methamphetamine on the health of people with opioid use disorder, and potentially effective interventions for methamphetamine.
The webinar will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 31 at 4 p.m. ET. Click
here to register.
Reminder: NABH Denial-of-Care Portal is Open to Members
NABH’s Denial-of-Care Portal is a new resource for members to provide information about their experiences with managed care organizations that impose barriers to care through insurance-claim denials.
NABH’s Managed Care Committee worked for more than a year to develop the Denial-of-Care Portal as a way to collect specific data on insurers who deny care—often without regard for parity or the effects on patients.
This NABH member-only, survey-like tool allows users to add the name of a managed care organization, type of plan, level of care, type of care (mental health or substance use disorder), duration of approved treatment, duration of unapproved treatment, criteria used to deny a claim, and more.
The portal allows members to submit individual examples of claim denials or upload multiple entries via Excel. It also includes sections on appeals and physician participation. In time, the tool could be a valuable resource for the NABH team’s advocacy efforts.
Please e-mail
Emily Wilkins, NABH’s administrative coordinator, if you have questions about the portal.
Register Today for the NABH 2021 Annual Meeting!
Registration is open for the NABH 2021 Annual Meeting from Wednesday, Oct. 6 – Friday, Oct. 8, 2021 at the Mandarin Oriental Washington, DC.
We hope you join us as we recognize our meeting theme,
Expanding Access: Right Care. Right Setting. Right Time.
Please visit our Annual Meeting
webpage to register for the meeting and to reserve your hotel room. We look forward to seeing you in Washington!
Fact of the Week
Individuals who experience early episode psychosis (EEP) were more likely to visit the emergency department for mental health related issues and to have an inpatient psychiatric hospital stay than those with late episode psychosis (LEP), according to research published in
Psychiatric Services this month.
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.