Senate Passes Gun-Control Bill with Mental Health Provisions
The Senate on Thursday passed the most significant gun-control legislation since the mid-1990s in a bill that includes about $15 billion in mental health and school security funding. The House is expected to vote today, June 24, on the measure.
The
Bipartisan Safer Communities Act expands the existing Medicaid Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) demonstration program to all states; helps states to implement, enhance, and expand school-based health programs under Medicaid through updated guidance, technical assistance, and state planning grants; requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide guidance to states on how they can increase access to behavioral health services through telehealth under Medicaid and CHIP; appropriates $150 million to help implement the upcoming 988 behavioral health crisis hotline; provides $500 million through the School-Based Mental Health Services Grant Program to increase the number of qualified mental health service providers that provide school-based mental health services to students in school districts with demonstrated need; and
more.
President Biden said he intends to sign the bill into law.
“Last month, President Biden spent hours with the family members whose lives were forever changed by the recent shootings at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York and an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas,” said a Statement of Administration Policy from the Office of Management and Budget. “The family members delivered a simple message, which the president then relayed to the American people: do something. Do something to stop the carnage of gun violence that leaves behind grief and trauma in communities, both big and small, across the country.”
The statement added that the bill advances President Biden’s agenda to expand access to mental health services and address the trauma of gun violence affecting so many communities.
Click
here to read the legislation.
House Passes Mental Health Bill to Reauthorize Funds for SAMHSA & HRSA
In a 402-20 vote Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 7666, the
Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act, which would reauthorize essential Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA) and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) programs to address the nation’s mental health and substance use crises.
The bill would reauthorize and modify several programs, including the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant, the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant, and grants related to suicide prevention and the behavioral health workforce.
In remarks on the House floor, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) applauded the House Energy and Commerce Committee and all House members whose legislation was included in the package.
“I hope this strong vote today will help move these critical policies through the Senate and see them quickly enacted into law,” Hoyer added.
On Tuesday, the Biden administration said it supported the bill in a Statement of Administrative Policy.
World Health Organization Releases First World Mental Health Report Since 2001
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released its largest review of world mental health since it released World Health Report 2001: Mental Health: New Understanding, New Hope
.
The latest iteration,
Transforming Mental Health for All, provides a roadmap for governments, academics, health professionals, and others to support the world in transforming mental health.
“As the world comes to live with, and learn from, the far-reaching effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, we must all reflect on one of its most striking aspects – the huge toll it has taken on people’s mental health,” the nearly 300-page report noted. “Rates of already-common conditions such as depression and anxiety went up by more than 25% in the first year of the pandemic, adding to the nearly one billion people who were already living with a mental disorder,” it continued. “At the same time, we must recognize the frailty of health systems attempting to address the needs of people with newly-presenting as well as pre-existing mental health conditions.”
The report also said that since 2001, countries worldwide have formally adopted international frameworks that guide them to act for mental health. And, it continued, WHO member states have adopted the
Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2030, which commits them to meeting 10 global targets for improved mental health.
Categorized in eight sections, the report examines principles and drivers in public mental health, assesses world mental health today, argues for investment in mental health, considers promotion and prevention strategies for change, and explores how to restructure and scale up care.
MACPAC Examines How Medicaid Policy Can Support Adopting Behavioral Health IT
In its June
report to Congress, the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) analyzed how Medicaid policy can be used to support adopting health information technology among behavioral healthcare providers.
The report highlighted that Medicaid programs play a critical role in financing behavioral health services and that those programs are focused on ways to provide behavioral health in more integrated settings.
Therefore, the Commission recommended, “…that CMS issue guidance to help states use Medicaid authorities and other federal resources to promote behavioral health IT adoption, and that the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration work together to develop voluntary standards that would encourage health IT uptake appropriate for behavioral health.”
See chapter 4 of the report,
Encouraging Health Information Technology Adoption in Behavioral Health: Recommendations for Action, to learn more.
CDC Introduces Tool to Check Drinking and Create a Plan to Drink Less
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has launched an alcohol-screening
tool for adults to check their drinking, identify barriers to drinking less frequently, and create a personalized plan to make healthier drinking choices—all anonymously.
The resource is part of the Atlanta-based agency’s new
Drink Less, Be Your Best campaign that highlights the harmful effects of alcohol and provides resources to help adults drink less.
CDC noted in its announcement that the tool is not intended for medical diagnosis or treatment.
‘Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness’ Documentary to Air June 27 and 28
Award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns presents
Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness, a two-part documentary film by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers on Monday and Tuesday, June 27 and 28 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS.
Click
here to see a preview of the film, which includes a brief introduction from Burns.
2022 Annual Meeting Presentations Available Online
Please visit our Annual Meeting
homepage to view available slide presentations from this year’s Annual Meeting. NABH will post recorded presentations on a later date.
And if you attended the 2022 Annual Meeting in Washington, please take a few moments to complete this
evaluation via Survey Monkey. Your feedback will help inform our future programs. Thank you.
Reminder: National Academies’ Forum on Mental Health and SUD to Host Summer Workshop on Early Intervention for Psychosis Next Month
The National Academies’ Forum on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders will host a public workshop this summer that focuses on early intervention for psychosis, current data on the epidemiology and outcomes for people at high risk for psychosis and those who have experienced a first psychosis, and ways to improve care for these patients.
Sessions will provide an overview of the epidemiology for people with psychosis, discuss what services are available and highlight successful models of care, and examine policy solutions and strategies that are the most effective for coordinated specialty services.
The workshop will be held on Monday, July 11 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. Click
here to register.
Save the Date for the 2023 Annual Meeting!
Please save the date for NABH’s next Annual Meeting:
June 12-14, 2023 at the Mandarin Oriental Washington, DC.
Fact of the Week
In 2019, nearly a billion
people – including 14% of the world’s adolescents – were living with a mental disorder, the World Health Organization reports.
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond