NYSHealth Foundation has selected 17 organizations for grant awards totaling $500,000 to help 28 local county health departments across New York State advance the goals of the New York State Department of Health's (NYSDOH) Prevention Agenda 2013-17.  

See a full list of the selected organizations and their projects.  

Preventing Suicide: Following Up After the Crisis: 

The NYSDOH announces an additional $12.8 million in Stage II Health Home Implementation Grants have been distributed to New York State designated Health Homes here     

OASAS Supports Alcohol Awareness Month with Statewide Town Hall Meetings to Prevent Underage Drinking 

Details here.   

Reframing Cultural Norms to Promote Healthy Relationships

A new groundbreaking report outlines effective lessons to prevent intimate parter violence (IPV) among immigrants and refugees here.  

HHS: Historic release of data gives consumers unprecedented transparency on the medical services physicians provide and how much they are paid here 

CLMHD: 2014-15 ENACTED STATE BUDGET ANALYSIS

The enacted state budget includes several high profile items that will provide both State and Medicaid funded reinvestments into community behavioral health services generated from the downsizing of state psychiatric hospitals and the closure of community hospital inpatient behavioral health beds. The Conference successfully advocated to require the state agencies to consult with the LGUs as part of the allocation process for the hospital reinvestment.    

Among the items: $50 Million Reinvestment of Savings from Closures of Inpatient Psychiatric/Substance Abuse Services, $25 Million Community Mental Health Reinvestment, and $110 Million in New Medicaid Investments for Behavioral Health Initiatives. 

State Health Commissioner Dr. Nirav Shah, will leave his post in June, a state official said.   Shah, a Buffalo native, is leaving to become senior vice president and chief operating officer for clinical operations for the southern California region of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan.  Read more.

Nassau County state Supreme Court Judge Thomas Feinman tossed out regulations written by Cuomo's Department of Health that sought to cap non-profit executive salaries at $199,000.

The lawsuit was brought by the Agencies for Children's Therapy, a non-profit that represents more than 30 agencies that provide early intervention, prekindergarten, special education and other services to more than 25,000 children throughout the state.  Read more. 

The federal government yesterday released some 10 million lines of data, a trove of information showing a portion of what the nation's physicians received in payments from Medicare.  

The data will take weeks to sift through and does not provide a complete picture of what or how a physician bills, but it does show that a few of the nation's doctors far outpace their peers.  Read more.  

New York State is requesting approval from CMS to extend the Partnership Plan Demonstration for an additional five years, from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2019, in order for New York to reinvest federal savings generated by the Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) reform initiatives and to reinvest in the state's health care system currently authorized by the Partnership Plan.     

Additionally, the New York State Department of Health is currently in negotiations with CMS to amend the Partnership Plan to continue MRT initiatives, and implement the MRT/Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) plan, and to integrate behavioral health benefits and populations into managed care.

Mental health advocates proposed the training to help officers assess and de-escalate confrontations when called to incidents involving psychologically troubled people.

The so-called Crisis Intervention Team model is already used in some form by 2,700 jurisdictions nationwide.  It teams police officers with mental health professionals.

The program includes guidance for 911 dispatchers on gathering information on mental health and addiction issues.

It also includes 40 hours of training for patrol officers on topics like maintaining a safety zone while assessing the situation and avoiding the temptation to immediately answer a crisis with force. Read more.

New York remains one of the only two states in the nation whose age of criminal responsibility-the age at which youths are treated as adults-is just 16. As a result, in 2013, over 33,000 16- and 17-year-olds in New York had their cases handled in adult criminal court, where they are less likely to receive the services they need.  Read more.   

Related:  Statewide: 33,000 Teens Tried as Adults Last Year  

The following sections contain basic and useful information for providers participating in the Medicaid program.

The national teen birth rate has plummeted 63 percent to its lowest level over the last 20 years, but with 1,700 babies born every week to girls under 18, the rate is still too high, according to a report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Read more.    

The American Psychiatric Association invites applications for the 2014 PSAA competition, which recognizes national models of creative service delivery.  Apply online by May 12.   

Innovative programs that deliver services to people with mental illness or mental disabilities, that have overcome obstacles, and that can serve as models for other programs are invited to enter the 2014 Psychiatric Services Achievement Awards competition. Programs can be based in a school, a clinic, a hospital, or the community itself, and can provide unique human resource development, prevention, or administrative models that improve clinical care.  

Two Gold Achievement Award winners will be chosen-a community-based program and an academically or institutionally sponsored program.  The Committee may also choose Silver and Bronze Award winners.  

Information about the awards, including links to descriptions of last year's winning programs, and the online application can be found at:  

www.psychiatry.org/achievementawards.