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July 1, 2015

Advancing Public Policies for People with Mental Illness, Chemical Dependency or Developmental Disabilities   

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Francine Sinkoff, Editor
[email protected]

Medication May Stop Drug and Alcohol Addiction

 

Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have successfully stopped cocaine and alcohol addiction in experiments using a drug already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat high blood pressure. If the treatment is proven effective in humans, it would be the first of its kind -- one that could help prevent relapses by erasing the unconscious memories that underlie addiction.

 

The research is published this week in the  journal Molecular Psychiatry.  Read more here.







Upcoming Webinars 

Evidence-Based Housing Approaches for Persons with Behavioral Health Needs in the Justice System
July 8th 2 pm.  Info HERE.

Best Practices Framework for Residential Interventions

July 10th 1 pm.  Info HERE.

 

Implementing a Comprehensive Approach To Suicide Prevention

July 14th 1 pm.  Info HERE.

 

Motivational Interviewing for Persons with Behavioral Health Needs in the Justice System

July 14th 2 pm.  Info HERE.

 

Borderline Personality Disorder

July 14th 2 pm.  Info HERE

 

Advancing the Sustainability of Peer-Run/Recovery Community Organizations

July 22nd 1 pm.  Info HERE.

Upcoming Trainings

MCTAC
Managed Care 101
July 7th 2 pm. Info HERE
.

HCBS Medicaid Managed Care Infrastructure Development Training and Assistance

July 9th 9 am - 4 pm / Albany
Info HERE.

Managed Care 101
July 21st 2 pm.  Info HERE.

OTHER
Emergency Training for County Chief Executives and County Emergency Managers 
August 17-20th / Albany
Info HERE.  Register HERE.


 

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

 

JULY

Officers & Chairs: Call-in July 8: 8 am

 

Mental Hygiene Planning Committee Meeting

July 9: 11 - 1

 

OMH Agency Meeting

July 21: 10 am - 12 pm

  

OASAS Agency Meeting

July 21: 1 - 3 pm

CLMHD Mentoring Workshop
July 29:  10 am - 4 pm
DoubleTree, Syracuse

NO MEETINGS IN AUGUST!


Contact CLMHD for all Call In and Go To Meeting information, 518.462.9422 

 

City and County of Albany to Develop Innovative, Evidence-based Process to Reduce Low-Level Arrests, Recidivism, and Racial Disparities

Last week, city and county officials and community leaders announced that the City and County of Albany will be developing an innovative program to reduce recidivism while advancing public safety and public health. The program is known as Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD. Under LEAD, police officers may exercise their discretion and divert individuals for certain low-level criminal offenses like drug possession; instead of being arrested and going through the regular criminal justice process, the individual is referred to a case manager, who then facilitates access to a comprehensive network of social services.

 

Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion was launched in 2011 in Seattle. LEAD emerged from a growing consensus that the war on drugs has failed, its associated racial disparities are unacceptable, and there is a need for innovative, effective approaches to reduce the number of people unnecessarily entering the criminal justice system. Santa Fe became the second jurisdiction to implement the program in 2014. Albany is the first East Coast city and the third city in the nation to begin developing LEAD.

 

Historically, a relatively small number of individuals in Albany with high needs demand a great deal of police time and resources. They cycle in and out of jail or prisons without ever having their underlying issues - such as untreated mental health and substance use problems, housing, employment, medical needs -addressed. This cycle is expensive for taxpayers and fails to promote public safety and public health. LEAD focuses on addressing some of those underlying problems and stopping this cycle and achieve better outcomes in both public safety and public health.

 

Over the last year, government and community stakeholders in Albany have met regularly to explore the feasibility for developing a LEAD-like program in Albany. Today, the group - which includes the Albany Police Department, District Attorney, the Mayor's Office, the County Executive and Departments, the Albany County Sheriff, Central District Management Association, the Center for Law and Justice, and the Drug Policy Alliance - announced that they had signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate in developing the program. Developing the program and securing funding should take 6 - 8 months. Read more here.

 

OMH and OASAS to Develop Grant Application for the Design of Certified Community Behavioral Health Centers 

 

The Office of Mental Health and the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, in collaboration with the Department of Health, will be developing and submitting an application to the Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in response to a request for proposals for a one year planning grant to design a pilot project forCertified Community Behavioral Health Centers. This application will be designed to be consistent with New York State's overall Medicaid Redesign initiative and the Value Based Payment roadmap which is being developed in collaboration with CMS. 

 

If New York State is awarded a planning grant there will be a competitive process after the planning year to determine which states will participate in an eight state pilot program which will operate for two years. The Planning Grant must be submitted by August 5, 2015. 

 

California, Massachusetts Find Significant Problems with Medicaid Managed Care

 

Two new reports out by state officials find that their respective Medicaid managed-care programs are rife with errors and waste. Blame
was pinned on state Medicaid agencies as well as the private health insurers that cover Medicaid beneficiaries. 

The reports from California and Massachusetts come just a few weeks after the CMS proposed a rule that would create the biggest changes in Medicaid managed-care regulations in more than a decade.

The California State Auditor chided regulators and health insurers who cover low-income residents in Medi-Cal, the name of the state's Medicaid program. About 9.3 million of the state's 12.2 million Medicaid beneficiaries are enrolled in managed-care plans. Those plans receive fixed monthly payments for each member they cover.

Anthem Blue Cross, Health Net and Partnership HealthPlan of California had inaccurate and inadequate provider networks, the audit found. Their directories of in-network providers had erroneous information for 3% to 23% of listed providers. Common errors included inaccurate telephone numbers and incorrectly labeling whether doctors were accepting new patients. Last year, California similarly found deficient provider information and networks in the state's new exchange plans.

 

But the auditor said the California Department of Health Care Services, which oversees Medicaid, failed to verify that the insurers' provider information was accurate and that beneficiaries were able to easily access care. Read more here.
 

12th Annual NYS Recovery Fine Arts Festival Accepting Entries

 

"Showcasing the achievements of those in recovery through artistic expression"

 

Friends of Recovery-New York (FOR-NY) will be accepting submissions for the 12th Annual NYS Recovery Fine Arts Festival until Friday, July 24.  The process and entry forms may be accessed at www.FOR-NY.org.  


NYS OASAS is looking forward to reviewing all submissions with our FOR-NY partners to help judge the artwork on how well this year's recovery theme "Join the Voices for Recovery:  Visible, Vocal, Valuable!" is depicted.  The winner will be announced in October at event where NYS OASAS Commissioner's Recognition Awards will be presented.

 

Hope And Hype For New Type Of Antidepressant

 

Two brothers - one an entrepreneur, the other a Columbia University psychiatrist - are claiming today that a new combination of experimental medicines may prevent suicidal thoughts in people with bipolar disorder.

 

The drug, D-cycloserine, was originally developed as a treatment for tuberculosis. Now, the brothers, Jonathan (CEO) and Daniel (scientist) Javitt, have founded a new company, NeuroRx, to develop it as an antidepressant. "Certainly neither one of us will say this is anything other than a very initial open-label study that is very preliminary," says Daniel.  Read more here.
The Conference of Local Mental Hygiene Directors advances public policies and awareness for people with mental illness, chemical dependency and developmental disabilities.  We are a statewide membership organization that consists of the Commissioner/ Director of each of the state's 57 county mental hygiene departments and the mental hygiene department of the City of New York.

Affiliated