CEO Update | 19

NABH Releases ‘Pathways to Care’ White Paper on America’s Addiction Treatment System NABH on Thursday released Pathways to Care: Treating Opioid and Substance Use Disorders, a white paper that highlights America’s fragmented addiction treatment system and maps out ways to improve access to our nation’s quality behavioral healthcare services. In Pathways, NABH Director of Quality and Addiction Services Sarah A. Wattenberg writes that the nation’s current addiction treatment system is characterized by limited integration between specialty addiction care and the general medical community; low use of evidence-based practices; poorly organized services that often confuse the public; limited, inconsistent, and unpredictable financing; and insufficient workforce capacity to meet consumer demand. The paper emphasizes a strong need to improve access to America’s highly skilled clinicians and first-rate behavioral healthcare systems and programs to treat people with SUDs. “As we build a better system to address the opioid crisis, we must look to strengthen and sustain the entire system of care,” Wattenberg writes in Pathways. “Only then will we realize our full potential—and save lives in the process.” NABH also released a Pathways to Care toolkit with Wattenberg’s paper. The toolkit includes an executive summary, infographic, provider practice checklist, and shareable graphics to post on Twitter and LinkedIn. Please visit www.nabh.org/pathways for the white paper and toolkit, and be sure to read Wattenberg’s LinkedIn article about the paper. In addition, a news release about Pathways is available on the NABH homepage, and NABH has launched a Pathways ad campaign on Twitter. Please remember to follow us @NABHbehavioral and also on LinkedIn. FDA Announces Draft Guidance on Defining Effectiveness of MAT to Treat Opioid Use Disorder The Food and Drug Administration announced it has posted draft guidance that addresses the “clinical endpoints” that are acceptable to demonstrate the effectiveness of drugs for medication assisted treatment of opioid use disorder. In its announcement, the FDA requested comments on when the use of placebo or active controls is most appropriate in clinical trials for such drugs. Click here to read the draft guidance and here for information on how to submit comments. Comments are due by October 9, 2018. CMS to Incorporate Outcomes of the Joint Commission’s Suicide Panel in Ligature Risk Guidance The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced it will incorporate the outcomes of the TJC (the Joint Commission) Suicide Panel into its ligature-risk guidance for state survey agencies and accrediting organizations. CMS also noted that it will not proceed with plans to establish its Proposed Psychiatric Task Force to address the environmental risks associated with caring for psychiatric inpatients. Click here to read the recent memo from CMS to state survey agency directors.  AHRQ’s Evidence-based Practice Center Releases Report on Bipolar Disorder in Adults For adults with any bipolar disorder type, cognitive behavioral therapy may be no better than other psychotherapies for improving acute bipolar symptoms, and systematic/collaborative care may be no better than other behavioral therapies for preventing relapse of any acute symptoms, according to new findings from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Those conclusions were included in an evidence review on Treatment for Bipolar Disorder in Adults from AHRQ’s Evidence-based Practice Center Program. According to AHRQ, the review was conducted to assess the effect of drug and non-drug interventions for treating acute symptoms associated with bipolar disorder—and preventing relapse. STAT to Host Live Chat on Challenges and Innovations in College Mental Healthcare Health news website STAT will host a live online conversation about mental health issues on college campuses on Tuesday, August 14 at noon ET. The live chat will feature Stephanie Pinder-Amaker, a psychiatry professor at Harvard Medical School and director of the College of Mental Health Program at McLean Hospital, and STAT reporter Megan Thielking. They will discuss approaches to better addressing student mental health needs, the barriers that keep students from seeking and receiving treatment, and how to improve relationships between schools and providers off campus. Click here to register for the live chat. Bipartisan Policy Center to Host Panel Discussion on Integrating Behavioral and Clinical Healthcare The Bipartisan Policy Center will host and webcast a panel discussion next week that will examine both the promise and challenges of integrating behavioral health into the country’s broader healthcare system. Moderated by the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Marilyn Serafini, the discussion will feature John Auerbach from the Trust for America’s Health; Tom Betlach from the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System; Patrick Gordon from Rocky Mountain Health Plans; and Angela Kimball from the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The panel discussion is scheduled for Thursday, August 16 from 10 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. ET. Click here to register. Save the Date for the NABH 2019 Annual Meeting! Please save the date and plan to join us at the Mandarin Oriental Washington, D.C. from March 18-20, 2019 for the 2019 NABH Annual Meeting. NABH will provide additional information in upcoming editions of CEO Update. For questions or comments about CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond