CEO Update | 38

Senate Confirms Jim Carroll as Nation’s ‘Drug Czar’ The Senate this week confirmed Jim Carroll as the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). Carroll had served as acting director at ONDCP since last February, and President Trump nominated him as permanent director in late April. This is the nation’s first permanent “drug czar” since Michael Botticelli held the post from 2014 until 2017 during the Obama administration. Carroll has served as White House Chief of Staff and earlier held positions at the Office of Management and Budget as well the Office of the White House Counsel. Joint Commission Publishes Report on Improving Depression Screening Depression is the leading cause of disability and often goes unaddressed, particularly for minorities, immigrants, and refugees, according to a new study published in the January 2019 issue of The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety. The article — “Not Missing the Opportunity: Improving Depression Screening and Follow-Up in a Multicultural Community”— also reports that although evidence-based guidelines recommend screening for the adequate diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of depression, only seven states report depression screening and follow up. Researchers implemented the following four core interventions at a rural, federally qualified health center that were shown to improve results: using written, standardized Patient Health Questionnaire (PHW) screening tools in six languages; using a standardized tool to help clients who screen positive for depression to share what matters most to them; using a “right care” tracking log to assist providers in documenting follow-up phone calls and visits for clients who screen positive for depression; and hosting team meetings and in-services to support building capacity. Click here to access the article. Alcohol-related Deaths on the Rise Alcohol misuse accounted for 35,823 deaths in 2017, reflecting a nearly 46-percent increase over almost two decades, according to an investigative report in the Washington Examiner that used Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data. The data showed that alcohol-related deaths have increased steadily since the 19,469 deaths related to alcohol misuse that were recorded in 1999. Meanwhile, deaths from misusing alcohol did not decline at any time since that period, and they included alcohol poisonings, alcoholic liver disease, and cirrhosis. The story noted that the figures do not include deaths from accidents people have while they are drinking, because in those cases the cause of death would be from drowning, a car accident, or a fall. Pat Hammer Begins Term as 2019 NABH Board Chair Congratulations to Pat Hammer, president and CEO of Oconomowoc, Wis.-based Rogers Behavioral Health, who began his term as 2019 NABH Board Chair on Jan. 1. Hammer succeeds Acadia Healthcare President Brent Turner in the position. Following the recent Board elections, Jim Shaheen, president of Strategic Behavioral Health in Memphis, Tenn., is now Board Chair-elect; and Jennifer Ziccardi-Colson, chief nurse executive and vice president for behavioral health at Atrium Health’s Behavioral Health Services in Charlotte, N.C., and John Hollinsworth, senior vice president at Universal Health Services, Inc. in Louisville, Ky., joined the Board as members through 2021. Register Now for the 2019 NABH Annual Meeting If you haven’t done so yet, please visit NABH’s Annual Meeting homepage today to register and reserve your hotel room for the 2019 NABH Annual Meeting — Behavioral Healthcare: Improving Coordination, Collaboration, Integration. And please watch for upcoming NABH Annual Meeting Alerts, which will keep meeting attendees informed about the latest speaker and programming information. This month, NABH will post the 2019 Annual Meeting preliminary program on the NABH website. This online preliminary program will replace the previous printed preliminary program. All meeting attendees will receive a final printed program on site at the Annual Meeting. We look forward to seeing you at the Mandarin Oriental Washington, D.C. from March 18-20, 2019! For questions or comments about CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.