ACOs net uneven results in Medicare Shared Savings Program 

Heroin: From the Civil War to the 70s, and Beyond  

New Bill Would Ease Access to Overdose Remedy 

Study: Even mentally "healthy" have symptoms that hinder work    

No Jail For Teen With 'Affluenza' Who Killed 4 In Crash 

New Report Tracks the Behavioral Health of America

The "National Behavioral Health Barometer" (Barometer) provides data about key indicators of behavioral health problems including rates of serious mental illness, suicidal thoughts, substance abuse, underage drinking, and the percentages of those who seek treatment for these disorders. The Barometer shows these data at the national level, and for each of the 50 states.  Link here.     

SAMHSA resource for practitioners looking to learn more about how to implement self-care promotion and provide self-care support in behavioral health here.

Second in the GAINS Center Five-Part Series of
Evidence-Based Practice Webinars:  

February 18th  3:00-4:30
"Supported Employment for Justice-Involved
People with Mental Illness"

Link to the Brief.  For a list of all upcoming EBP webinars click here.  

___________________

Newsletter:

State Ops Spotlight/ Fiscally Speaking/ Information Technology/ Facility Spotlight/Link  

Statewide Grand Rounds "The Role of the Psychiatrist in Leading Public Health Systmes"

watch or listen here.  

 A New Research Agenda for Suicide Prevention 

Save the Date for the next CLMHD Committee Day:  

Tuesday, February 25th 

10:00 a.m. to 3:00 pm 

 Best Western Albany, NY

February:

Children & Families Committee 

February 11th  

11:30-1:00 GTM/Call In

 

Mental Hygiene Planning

February 13th 

11:00-2:00 

Albany - 41 State Street  

 

Executive Committee 

Call-in 

Fiscal Officers Workgroup 

9:00-10:00 GTM/Call In  

Nearly half of the 114 hospitals and doctor groups that began Accountable Care Organizations under the health law in 2012 managed to slow Medicare spending in their first year, but only 29 of them saved enough money to qualify for bonus payments, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Thursday.

CMS called the results "very promising" -particularly for the first year of a program that involved significant changes in the delivery of health care. But the fact that more than half the ACOs didn't achieve savings underscores the challenges that remain in curbing health-care costs this way.  Read more.

Related: Providers net uneven results from ACO experiment

Feds propose tougher standards on exchange plans for provider networks
Insurers that want to sell plans through the federal exchanges for 2015 may have to do more to ensure members have access to adequate networks of providers. Read more.

The rise in suicide rates prompts a sober confrontation of old and new questions around the will to overcome.

OpEd: We've made some progress in understanding mental illnesses over the past few decades, and even come up with drugs to help ameliorate their effects. But we have not made any headway against suicide. 

According to the World Health Organization, global suicide rates have increased by 60 percent over the past 45 years. The increase in this country is nothing like that, but between 1999 and 2010, the suicide rate among Americans between 35 and 64 rose by 28 percent. More people die by suicide than by auto accidents.

The cigarette display at a CVS in Manhattan. The chain expects to lose $2 billion a year in sales, a small dent in its $123 billion in overall sales

The last fifty years of tobacco control have been an enormous public health success. Since the release of the first Surgeon General's Report on smoking and health in 1964, smoking rates in the United States have dropped by more than half. A new interactive timeline explores progress in reducing smoking rates, with a look ahead at how to achieve a future free from tobacco-related death and disease. Read more.

New York's health care spending overall and per capita are among the highest in the nation. The State's health care spending has accelerated over time and is projected to further increase in coming years, outpacing both inflation and overall economic growth.

A new NYSHealth-funded chart book, "Health Care Costs and Spending in New York State," pulls together a compendium of information on health care costs, spending, and payments based on existing State and national research. Prepared by Health Management Associates, the slides in this online chart book synthesize a wide range of data into an easy-to-use resource that covers the impact of rising costs, drivers of spending growth, variations in spending, and the relationship between quality of care and spending. It illustrates trends over time, highlights regional variations within the State, and contrasts New York with the nation and other states. Readers are encouraged to download and use these slides in their own presentations.

Access the chart book.