CEO Update 263
Former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Ph.D. to Address Attendees at 2026 Annual Meeting
NABH is pleased to welcome former Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Ph.D. as our afternoon speaker on Day #2 of the 2026 NABH Annual Meeting.
Holtz-Eakin has an esteemed record as a researcher and policy adviser, and he served as the sixth CBO director from 2003 to 2005. In 2009, he founded the American Action Forum, where he serves as president. He is also a distinguished fellow at Purdue University’s Daniels School of Business. Holtz-Eakin will draw from his diverse background in policy, politics, academia, and government in his session, Health Policy & The Economy: An Overview.
Please help us welcome him on Tuesday, March 3 from 2:15 – 3 p.m. ET in the ballroom at The Ritz-Carlton Washington, DC and come with your questions.
And there’s still time to register for this year’s Annual Meeting if you haven’t yet. We hope you join us!
Please Visit Our Exhibitors and Sponsors at the 2026 Annual Meeting
NABH appreciates the generous support of our exhibitors and sponsors, whose innovative products and services help NABH members deliver quality behavioral healthcare every day to those who need it.
Please make time to visit our exhibitors and sponsors at the Annual Meeting from March 2 -4 at the Ritz-Carlton Washington, DC. Before then, you can view a list of our exhibitors and sponsors on our Annual Meeting homepage, where you can also find program and speaker information.
CMS Releases Toolkit for Children’s Behavioral Health Services and EPSDT
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Friday released the State Medicaid & CHIP Toolkit for Children’s Behavioral Health Services and the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT) Requirements, a toolkit for state Medicaid and CHIP agencies to help ensure children and youth experiencing behavioral health conditions receive the care they need.
The toolkit includes strategies for developing a behavioral health care delivery system that can meet a range of children’s needs, promoting early intervention for children’s behavioral health conditions, improving children’s access to behavioral health care through service coordination and integration, and increasing the workforce capacity for children’s behavioral health services.
It also includes descriptive information about behavioral health services and models of care, as well as resources related to behavioral healthcare services delivery for children and youth.
HHS Office for Civil Rights Begins Enforcing 42 CFR Part 2
HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) on Monday launched its enforcement program for 42 CFR Part 2 (“Part 2”), the regulations for confidentiality of substance use disorder patient records.
This coincides with the date in which Part 2 programs must comply with the latest rule from 2024, which largely aligned Part 2 requirements with the privacy regulations associated with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.
Any complaints alleging Part 2 violations and notifications of Part 2 breaches now will be directed to OCR instead of the U.S. Department of Justice.
KFF Analysis Shows U.S. Health Spending Accounted for 18% of GDP in 2024
A recent analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) found national spending on health rose to $5.3 trillion and 18% of GDP in 2024 and is projected to continue to rise into the future.
In 2025, average annual premiums for employer-sponsored family coverage reached $26,993, with workers paying $6,850 for their coverage, according to KFF’s annual survey of employers.
Meanwhile, hospital care accounted for nearly one-third of national health expenditures in 2024, and more than doubled in nominal terms over the preceding two decades, making hospitals a major driver of health spending growth over time, the analysis said.
ICYMI: Coalition to Strengthen America’s Healthcare Intensifies Messaging About Insurer Practices in New Ad
The Coalition to Strengthen America’s Healthcare has released a new digital advertisement highlighting harmful insurer practices that delay patients’ access to care, create more administrative burden for providers, and increase costs for all Americans.
NABH serves on the board of the Coalition, which will run the ad in the coming weeks across digital streaming platforms HBO Max, Amazon Prime, YouTube TV, and Spotify video and will target key policymakers and healthcare influencers inside the Beltway.
Fact of the Week
A recent study published in JAMA Network found that low proportion of telehealth use maintains primary care quality comparable to that of in-person care; however, a high proportion of telehealth use was associated with lower quality, especially for services needing in-person care (e.g., vaccines).
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.