Advancing Public Policies for People with Mental Illness, Chemical Dependency or Developmental Disabilities
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The SAMHSA Recovery Month Toolkit is Here!
Get a jumpstart on your September 2014 event planning with the newly launched Recovery Month Toolkit. This year's toolkit, which celebrates the 25th anniversary of Recovery Month, highlights the theme "Join the Voices for Recovery: Speak Up, Reach Out."
The theme encourages people to openly discuss-or speak up about mental and substance use disorders and the reality of recovery. The observance also promotes ways first responders, faith leaders, youth and young adults, and policymakers can recognize these issues and intervene or reach out to help others, as well as themselves.
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SAMHSA:
New Online Course on Anger Management: Open Registration
SAMHSA: The Value of Peer and Family Support
SAMHSA: Crisis Response Systems - Webinar Series
- Wednesday, June 18, 2014 2:00-3:30pm (EDT) Innovative State and Local Crisis Response Systems
- Tuesday, July 1, 2014 2:00-3:30pm (EDT) Innovative State and Local Crisis Response Systems
- Tuesday July 15, 2014 ?2:00-3:30pm (EDT) Innovative State and Local Crisis Response Systems
Building Organizational Infrastructure To Treat Chronic Pain and Prevent Abuse of Prescription Medications
June 5th 1-2:30 here
NIMH Twitter Chat on Men & Depression June 10th 2-3
CMS: Meaningful Consumer Engagement Webinars
Webinar 1: Meaningful Consumer Engagement: Consumer Advisory Committees June 3rd 2-3
Webinar 2: Meaningful Consumer Engagement: Member Meetings
June 11th 2-3 Register for both here
SAMHSA: Public Listening Session on Confidentiality of Patient Records Regulations here June 11th 9:30-4:30
Extracting CPS Reports Dialogue
June 20th 12-12:30 here
SAMHSA Webinar: Continuing Medical Education
Transitioning to DSM-5 and ICD-10-CM
July 8th 3-4:40 here
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JUNE: Children & Families Comm. June 10th 11:30-1:00 Call in Officers and Chairs Conference Call June 11th 8:00-9:00 Call in Mental Hygiene Planning June 12th 11:00-2:00 41 State Street OMH Housing MeetingJune 18th 10:00-11:00 44 Holland Avenue Albany Fiscal Officers Workgroup June 24th 9:00-10:00 GTM Call in Contact CLMHD for all call in information, 518.462.9422
SAVE THE DATE:
CLMHD Fall Full Membership
Meeting/September 22-23, 2014
Lake Placid Crowne PlazaCLMHD Members: Register Here
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HHS releases new data and tools to increase transparency on hospital utilization and other trends
 The Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services (CMS) has released its first annual update to the Medicare hospital charge data, or information comparing the average amount a hospital bills for services that may be provided in connection with a similar inpatient stay or outpatient visit.
CMS is also releasing a suite of other data products and tools aimed to increase transparency about Medicare payments. The data trove on CMS's website now includes inpatient and outpatient hospital charge data for 2012, and new interactive dashboards for the CMS Chronic Conditions Data Warehouse and geographic variation data.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also launched a new open data initiative. And the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) will also announce the winners of two data challenges. Read more.
HHS announces the availability of $300 Million in Affordable Care Act funds to expand services at the Nation's community health centers
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the availability of up to $300 million under the Affordable Care Act to help the nation's community health centers expand service hours, hire more medical providers, and add oral health, behavioral health, pharmacy, and vision services.
"Health centers are key to the Affordable Care Act's goal of expanding access to health care," said Secretary Sebelius. "They are critical providers of care and have also been instrumental in linking people to coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace. Health centers provided enrollment assistance to more than 4.7 million people since last fall."
Today, nearly 1,300 health centers operate more than 9,000 service delivery sites that provide care to over 21 million patients in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Pacific Basin. The health center program is administered by HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Read more.
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SHIN-NY: NYS Health Information Exchange Aids Doctors, Patients
New York is quietly building one of the nation's largest computer databases of medical records, a system that when finished will allow patients and doctors alike to see complete health histories in one place and promises to save millions in costs by avoiding redundant tests and unneeded hospital admissions.
Read more.
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Ban lifted on Medicare coverage for sex change surgery
The blanket Medicare ban was put in place in 1981 when such surgeries were considered experimental. But now most medical groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association, consider it a safe option for those suffering from gender dysphoria
 The Obama administration on Friday ended a 33-year ban on Medicare coverage for gender reassignment surgery - a major victory for transgender rights and a decision that is likely to put pressure on more insurers to provide coverage for such services. The ruling by a Department of Health and Human Services board was in response to a lawsuit filed last year on behalf of Denee Mallon, 74, a transgender woman and army veteran from Albuquerque. Read more. |
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New York Disputes OIG Call For $60 Million Repayment Of Unallowable Room-&-Board Costs For State-Operated
OPWDD Residential Facilities
OPWDD and DOH are disputing a federal estimate that New York owes $60 million for unallowable room-and-board costs included in its rate methodology for residential habilitation services provided through New York's developmental disabilities home-and community-based services (HCBS) waiver.
An audit by the federal Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Health and Human Services examined New York's methodology for April 1, 2008 through September 30, 2010.
For more information: www.oig.hhs.gov or www.opwdd.ny.gov
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Take This Apartment and Call Me in the Morning
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Lissette Encarnacion in her apartment at The Brook, a supportive housing complex in the Bronx
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Lissette Encarnacion lives at The Brook, but she used to live under a bridge beside the Gowanus Canal. Encarnacion has had a tough life. For a while though, most things were great - she was married, had a son, had a career. "I had it going on," she said. "I had a double-duplex townhouse, I had a Honda, I was doing my thing, money in the bank. I miss the working life." But her husband was an alcoholic and one night when he came home, she says he threw her out the window. She hasn't been the same since. She and her two sons moved in with her sister, but Encarnacion kept wandering away. Her sister would find her and bring her home - but then about 10 years ago she wandered away and didn't come back. She became homeless, and because she has epilepsy, she was often picked up by EMTs and taken to the emergency departments at local hospitals. Today, she lives in "permanent supportive housing" at The Brook. Supportive housing is more than just a place to live. The Brook has social workers, security, a doctor, and even an event planner. The goal is to provide safe, secure housing for people who were once homeless, while also reducing the overall costs of expensive emergency room visits and other services utilized by people who are chronically homeless. Read more. |
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Westchester County:
Mental Health Commissioner
The mission of the Department of Community Mental Health is to plan, oversee and coordinate services for individuals and families with mental illnesses, developmental
disabilities and addictions. The Department of Mental Health currently has an operating budget of approximately $57 million, and a multidisciplinary staff of nearly 75 medical, professional and support personnel assigned to various locations throughout the County, this is in addition to supervising multiple contracts, programs and services through local, state and federal partnerships.
The Commissioner is responsible to manage the operation and provision of community based preventative, rehabilitative and treatment services for those with mental and developmental disabilities and addictions through the development of a non- discriminating, high quality, accessible system of services. Read more.
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