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WEBINARS & Resources:
2012 National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services Available 7 New Grant Opportunities for Substance Abuse Treatment Programs and Mental Illness here _______________ CHIS: Creating the business case for integrated care toolkit NYSDOH: The deadline for submitting comments (in response to the Request for Information, or RFI) related to NY's Draft Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for BH Benefit Administration has been extended to close of business on January 17, 2014. More. NYSDOH: NYS Health Innovation Plan (SHIP) final documents here. NYSDOH: The Health Home Program has created a new web page covering Health Information Technology (HIT). This web page currently details HIT Standards and progress of all Health Homes as of December 2013. More. NYSDOH: Council Passes Ambulatory Care Regs. More. NYS Medicaid has announced that practitioners must now be enrolled in Medicaid to enable them to continue to prescribe medication for Medicaid beneficiaries (dual eligible patients may also be affected). More. ____________________ The Intersection of Housing Policy and Health January 24 12:30-2:00 Register Providers: Prepare for the Transition to ICD-10 January 24th 12-1:30 Register DOH: 2014 OMH/MHANYS Suicide Prevention Minigrants Webinar January 31 3PM Register |
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Save the Date for the next CLMHD Committee Day:
Tuesday, February 25th
10:00 a.m. to 3:00 pm
Best Western Albany, NY
Children & Families Committee
January 14th
11:30-1 GTM/Call InCLMHD/OMH/DOH HEALTH HOME CALL January 16th 10:00-11:00 DCSs: call CLMHD for PIN
Fiscal Officers Workgroup
January 28th
Director's Meetings
January 28th
10:30 - Noon
Albany - 41 State Street
Executive Committee Meeting
January 28th
12:30 - 2:00
Albany 41 State Street Albany
February:
Officers & Chairs
February 5th 8-9 AM Call-in
Children & Families Committee
February 11th
11:30-1:00 GTM/Call In
Mental Hygiene Planning
February 13th
11:00-2:00
41 State Street Suite 505 Albany
CLMHD/OMH/DOH HEALTH HOME CALL February 20th 10:00-11:00
DCSs: call CLMHD for PIN
Executive Committee
February 24th 12:30-2:00
41 State Street Suite 505 Albany
Fiscal Officers Workgroup
February 25th
9:00-10:00 GTM/Call In
CLMHD Committee Day
February 25th
10:00 a.m. to 3:00 pm
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 State of the State: Cuomo's Local Government Consolidation Proposal Draws Response
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is renewing his push to consolidate the thousands of local governments in New York and is making his proposal more enticing by linking it to a tax credit in his new tax cut package.
The New York State Association of Counties is a bipartisan municipal association serving the counties of New York State including the City of New York. CLMHD is an affiliate of NYSAC.
Stephen Acquario, the Executive Director of the New York State Association of Counties, said the governor's proposal was promising, but that it should be part of a broader discussion that includes more mandate relief for local governments. Acquario also noted that state regulations prevent the sharing of certain services, including workers' compensation and health insurance, a significant cost driver.
"There is no reason why a county should not be authorized to reach out to towns, villages, cities, school districts and centralize procurement of health insurance for all of the local governments within its jurisdiction. We can't do that," he said. "That is just one example of the problems where the state has barriers to reform to save the local taxpayers money." More
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Erie: Treatment will continue for former alcohol and drug agency's clients
After a holiday week scramble by Erie County and New York State mental health departments, hundreds of former clients of Alcohol and Drug Dependency Services will be able to continue treatment without interruption into 2014, most of them in the same locations and with the same staff.
ADDS, which operated inpatient halfway house and outpatient alcohol and drug treatment services for adults and teens at five locations in Erie County, lost its operating license Tuesday. Four other treatment agencies confirmed they accepted the governments' request to take over the ADDS clients, effective Wednesday.
Ellery Reaves, county commissioner of mental health, said ADDS had serious revenue problems in the past year after anticipated state payments for patient treatment did not come through.
"ADDS began to experience some financial issues involving their billings through the state Medicaid system after New York switched to a managed care system," Reaves said. "Basically, their expenses overrode their revenues - they were unable to pay their bills."
He said the situation seemed to be caused by a lack of suitable infrastructure at ADDS "to catch the nuances of the changes in Medicaid billing."
Read more.
Mental health issues discussed by Ulster County, elected officials
 | | Commissioner Carol Smith, MD, Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, Chair of NYS Assembly Mental Health Committee, County Executive Hein and Senator CeciliaTkaczyk |
KINGSTON - Mental health officials, professionals and state legislators put their heads together with Ulster County Executive Michael Hein on Monday to discuss local impacts of ongoing state aid cuts for mental health services.
Hein noted that in his county alone, state reimbursements for mental health services have been cut by 50 percent over the last several years, amounting to $8 million in funding that is not available at a time when demand for mental health services is at an all time high. Read more.
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State Considers Size of Medicaid Savings
New York health officials are trying to determine whether adding an additional insurance option will deliver as much in Medicaid savings as originally estimated.
The "basic health" plan, newly available under the Affordable Care Act, was initially estimated to save the state $600 million in Medicaid costs.
But new calculations suggest it could save far less than health advocates estimated, and enacting the new option could face a difficult path in the legislature.
The basic health option is a separate insurance plan that would be made available on the state's health exchange, and would provide insurance for an estimated 486,000 New Yorkers, made up of recent legal immigrants and people whose incomes are between 138 percent and 200 percent of the federal poverty level (between $15,00 and $21,800 per year). Read more.
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What is the Fiscal Health of My Local Government?
 | | Fulton is one of the first two municipalities in New York state to formally ask the state for help and advice on its mounting financial problems. (The other is the town of Fishkill in Dutchess County.) . |
The state comptroller created a fiscal monitoring system to give the public a systematic way to understand the fiscal health of local governments. It's a score for each community's financial health. (The data currently covers 1,043 local governments who operate on a calendar fiscal year. The state plans soon to add other local governments that operate on a non-calendar year including several major cities, like Syracuse.)
The financial indicators used in the score evaluate the ability of the local government. Read more.
Westchester appeals in fight with HUD over community grants
 After losing millions in 2011 community development grants in late September, Westchester County is continuing its legal fight over the larger issue of the federal government's power to withdraw grants over the county's compliance with the 2009 fair housing settlement and federal fair housing law. Read more.
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