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Developing Health Homes for Children with Serious Emotional Disturbance: Considerations and Opportunities
 Individuals with serious mental illness who often have poor health outcomes, high care coordination needs, and high costs are commonly targeted by states for enrollment into Medicaid health homes.
Within this population, children with serious emotional disturbance (SED) are a compelling high-cost, high-need group that can potentially benefit from the integrated care provided under health homes. While states cannot develop health home models that target by age, states can tailor behavioral health-focused health homes to meet the unique needs of both children and adults.
This new brief, developed by the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) for the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) Health Home Information Resource Center, highlights health home opportunities for children with SED and presents considerations to help states develop models that address this population's unique needs. Read the brief
HHS Issues HIPAA Guidance on Sharing Information Related to Mental Health
 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released new guidance explaining how the HIPAA Privacy Rule operates to protect individuals' privacy rights with respect to their mental health information and in what circumstances the Privacy Rule permits health care providers to communicate with patients' family members and others to enhance treatment and assure safety. Read more.
HHS: Comprehensive Guidance for 2015 on Key Health Law Policies under the Affordable Care Act
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Administration released its guidance on the major health law policies in 2015 for consumers, states and Health insurance marketplaces, health insurers and employers all at once. This early synchronized and comprehensive effort is designed to provide stakeholders with the early information and certainty they need to plan for next year.
For more information on policies from the HHS and CMS see the fact sheet.
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The sharp decline in payments coincides with increased scrutiny of drug marketing. Later this year, federal law will also require that drugmakers disclose the amount of money they give to doctors. Read 
Older adults who binge drink at least once a month may be setting themselves up for an earlier grave, a new study suggests. Researchers found that men and women in their mid-50s to mid-60s who engaged in binge drinking - even when their total number of weekly drinks was considered moderate - had an increased risk of dying over a 20-year period compared with regular, moderate drinkers. Read 
