SAMHSA to Host Webinar on 42 CFR Part 2 Compliance Next Week
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will host a 90-minute webinar for business managers and compliance officers on July 7 to help ensure their organizations comply with SAMHSA’s 42 CFR Part 2 regulations.
The lesson will highlight the latest updates released in January 2018; examine multiple scenarios and frequently asked questions related to SAMHSA’s mental health, substance abuse, and alcohol abuse records; and address proper ways to secure and/or release this information.
SAMHSA urges practice managers, business associates who work with health records, compliance officers, physicians, and other medical professionals to attend the webinar on Thursday, July 7 at 1 p.m. ET.
Click
here to register.
White House Maternal Health Blueprint Aims to Increase Access to Behavioral Health Services
In its new
White House Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis, the Biden administration has recommended 50 actions that more than a dozen federal agencies will take to improve maternal care in the United States, including some related to behavioral health.
Released in June, the 68-page blueprint outlines five goals, starting with Goal #1: Increase Access to and Coverage of Comprehensive High-Quality Maternal Health Services, Including Behavioral Health Services.
“We will continue to invest in maternal behavioral health by launching a 24/7 national support hotline for pregnant individuals and new mothers facing mental health challenges and improving provider education,” the blueprint noted in this first goal. “We will also strengthen access to perinatal addiction services by partnering with hospitals and community-based organizations to implement evidence-based practices,” it continued. “Congress must also take critical steps to bolster access to and coverage of maternal health services.”
Other behavioral health-related action items include strengthening supports and access to perinatal addiction services for individuals with substance use disorder by partnering with hospitals and community-based organizations to implement evidence-based interventions, and appointing a dedicated associate administrator for women’s services at SAMHSA to lead its efforts in promoting positive mental health during pregnancy and in the postpartum period.
NABH Responds to AHRQ’s RFI About CAHPS Survey for Inpatient Mental Healthcare Settings
NABH this week responded to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) request for information (RFI) regarding potential Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) for Inpatient Mental Healthcare Settings.
AHRQ’s detailed RFI seeks to identify the highest priority aspects patient experiences to include in measures and surveys, the benefits of collecting information about a patient’s experience from family members and caregivers, the challenges that exist in collecting this information, and much more.
“During inpatient stays, patients are typically experiencing an increase in psychiatric symptomatology, including, but not limited to, hallucinations, paranoia, delusions, emotional lability, and fragmented cognitive processes,” NABH’s
letter said in response to a question about the challenges in administering measures and surveys in mental healthcare settings. “Patients may thus be limited in their ability to express thoughts and feelings, to comprehend written material, or sustain their attention to complete a survey,” the letter continued. “For these reasons, we suggest limiting surveys to 20-25 questions, or 8-10.”
Reminder: National Academies’ Forum on Mental Health and SUD to Host Summer Workshop on Early Intervention for Psychosis on July 11
The National Academies’ Forum on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders will host a public workshop 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 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.
Reminder: 2022 Annual Meeting Evaluation
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.
Fact of the Week
The United States requires about 6,600 new mental health practitioners to meet demand in regions the federal government has identified as health professional shortage areas, according to
data from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The NABH staff wishes you, your teams, and your families a happy and safe Independence Day weekend!
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond