May 18-24 - National Prevention Week

SAMHSA:   

2012 Town Hall Meetings to Prevent Underage Drinking: Moving Communities Beyond Awareness to Action

The Impact of Trauma on Wellness: Implications for Comprehensive Systems Change  

SAMHSA: The 2012 Treatment Episode Data Set-Admissions (TEDS-A) data and documentation files are now available for download, online analysis, and Quick Tables.   

SAMHSA: New Spanish Language Mental Health Resources Toolkit here  

Now Available from CSH: 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services' inspector general reported on Tuesday that New York's Department of Health claimed $60.8 million in unallowable Medicaid reimbursements.

"The report is only the latest example of the systemic waste and abuse of federal taxpayer dollars that has become a hallmark of the New York State Medicaid program," said House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa. The California Republican called the unallowed reimbursements "fraudulent" and added that New York's government has failed to address long-standing problems in its program.

'The Committee will continue to press the federal government to recoup the $60.8 million identified by this audit, and as much as possible of the billions of dollars in overpayments received by the state over the last two decades," Issa added.   Read more.  

Date:   Thursday, May 22, 2014 

Time:   3:00 pm  

Meeting Number:    640 764 300 

Meeting Password: may222014

New HHS data show quality improvements saved 15,000 lives and $4 billion in health spending

The Department of Health and Human Services announced that new preliminary data show an overall nine percent decrease in hospital acquired conditions nationally during 2011 and 2012.  National reductions in adverse drug events, falls, infections, and other forms of hospital-induced harm are estimated to have prevented nearly 15,000 deaths in hospitals, avoided 560,000 patient injuries, and approximately $4 billion in health spending over the same period.

The Affordable Care Act is also helping reduce hospital readmissions.  After holding constant at 19 percent from 2007 to 2011 and decreasing to 18.5 percent in 2012, the Medicare all-cause 30-day readmission rate has further decreased to approximately 17.5 percent in 2013.   

This translates into an 8 percent reduction in the rate and an estimated 150,000 fewer hospital readmissions among Medicare beneficiaries between January 2012 and December 2013.  Read more.  

A new United Hospital Fund report highlights New York's health insurance market on the cusp of change in 2012, just before most components of the Affordable Care Act and State reform efforts were implemented. Among its findings:

• Health plans that specialize in public programs (Prepaid Health Services Plans) played an increasingly important role and grew dramatically in 2012 in terms of enrollment, revenue, net income, and overall market share.
• Three Prepaid Health Services Plans (Fidelis Care, HealthFirst, and MetroPlus) reported revenues of over $2 billion in 2012.
• Overall operating revenues for New York health plans grew from $48 billion in 2010 to $55.7 billion in 2012, about a 16 percent increase over the two years.
• Fully insured commercial group coverage declined between 2010 and 2012, with some of the loss likely attributable to employer groups switching to self-funded arrangements.
• UnitedHealthcare companies moved to the top spot in overall market share by premiums and maintained their lead in employer-based coverage. 

As police in Albany and Troy try to squelch a bloody gang feud spanning the Hudson River, Albany, Schenectady and Rensselaer counties will share nearly $2.2 million in state money from a new program to fight gun violence.

The $13.2 million in grants announced Thursday targeted 20 communities in 17 upstate counties that have traditionally accounted for most of the violent crime outside of New York City.

The program - known as the Gun Involved Violence Elimination Initiative - is replacing the decade-old Operation IMPACT, which pushed upstate police departments to devise more data-driven and cooperative approaches to reducing serious crimes.  Read more.  

Responsible for planning and coordination of mental health, developmental disabilities and chemical dependency services in Niagara County. Requires 5 years administrative experience in private, nonprofit, or government program serving people with mental illness, developmental disabilities or chemical dependency with at least 2 years in overall direction of an agency, department, or program.  

Masters Degree in public administration, public health, hospital administration, business administration, social work, psychology, mental health nursing or New York State licensed Physician or Psychologist.  

Send resume by June 6th to Niagara County Department of Mental Health, 5467 Upper Mountain Road, Ste 200, Lockport, NY 14094-1854, Attn: Selection Committee