DOL Includes Mental Health in $200 Million Grant Announcement for Registered Apprenticeships
The U.S. Labor Department this week announced nearly $200 million in grants to support public-private partnerships that expand, diversify, and strengthen Registered Apprenticeships and included mental health occupations under the “care economy” sector that is eligible to apply.
The funding opportunity includes $95 million of competitive grants through the second round of the Apprenticeship Building America Grant Program and $100 million in the second round of State Apprenticeship Expansion Formula Grants.
The Apprenticeship Building America Grant Program aims to leverage Registered Apprenticeships as a workforce solution while assuring that people from underrepresented and underserved communities can access high-quality training and pre-apprenticeships that lead directly to enrolling in a Registered Apprenticeship program.
In addition to the care economy, sectors include information technology/cybersecurity, K-12 teacher occupations, clean energy, hospitality, public sector, and supply chain sector (logistics, warehousing, transportation, manufacturing).
Click
here to learn about the second round of the Apprenticeship Building America Grant Program and
here to learn about the State Apprenticeship Expansion Formula grants.
The NABH Education and Research Foundation will host a webinar this spring to help members learn more about Registered Apprenticeships and will provide details soon.
U.S. Supreme Court Rejects UBH Request to Hear Claim Denial Case
In a win for behavioral healthcare providers, the U.S. Supreme Court this week rejected a request for appeal from United Behavioral Health (UBH) to hear a behavioral health claim denial case.
The initial case centered on how health plans under the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) handle clinician insights in the denial-appeal process and how those decisions should be communicated to members. UBH sought to challenge a prior court’s rule pertaining to whether the health plan gave the plaintiff – a patient who ultimately died by suicide – a full and fair review during the denial-appeals process.
The Supreme Court’s rejection this week upholds the 10
th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ May 2023
ruling, which noted: “United argues its actions were not arbitrary and capricious because it met certain ERISA regulatory requirements. It points to regulations which discuss requirements for engagement with medical opinions in ERISA disability plans,” and continued: “We recognize the textual difference in the ERISA disability and ERISA medical regulations pointed out by United but disagree that the dialogue absolves United from its duty to engage in meaningful dialogue that includes a full and fair review of the insured’s claim.”
National Academies Report Urges Developing Standards to Limit Potential Social Media Harms on Adolescent Mental Health
A recent
report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) recommends developing new industry standards to limit the potential harms of social media on adolescent mental health while bolstering its possible benefits.
The report notes that during the past 15 years, an increase in young people’s smartphone usage has coincided with a decline in mental health, a damaging association that U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, M.D., M.B.A, warned against in a May 2023
advisory.
Click
here to read the
JAMA article about the NASEM report.
HHS & DOJ to Host Webinar on Tech-facilitated Abuse in Teen Relationships Next Week
In conjunction with February’s Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, HHS and the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) will host a webinar on Feb. 28 to help participants learn about the use of technology in teen dating and its related impacts on behavioral health.
HHS’ Office of Family Violence Prevention and Services and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, along with DOJ’s Office on Violence Against Women, will lead the 75-minute event, which will also examine non-consensual image-sharing and practices to address these challenges at the community level.
Click
here to register for the webinar, which will begin at 3 p.m. ET next Wednesday.
Now Open: 2024 NABH Annual Meeting Registration
Registration is now open for the 2024 NABH Annual Meeting,
The Future of Behavioral Healthcare.
Please join us at the Salamander Washington, DC from
May 13-15, 2024 for this year’s Annual Meeting to examine and discuss critical issues that behavioral healthcare providers manage today and will continue to address tomorrow, including access to care, parity, technology, workforce, the political environment, and more.
Click
here to register for the meeting and reserve your hotel room. We look forward to seeing you in Washington!
Reminder: Please Submit Data to NABH’ Denial-of-Care Portal
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.
Fact of the Week
A recent
report from union group National Nurses United showed 81.6% of nurses polled said they had experienced workplace violence in at least one form. Respondents reported the three most common types of violence were being verbally threatened (67.8%), physically threatened (38.7%), and being pinched or scratched (37.3%).
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.