NABH Priorities for the 117^th Congress Now Available

NABH this week released its updated advocacy agenda, NABH Priorities for the 117^th Congress, in a document available on the association’s homepage.

In previous years, NABH released its Legislative and Regulatory Priorities this time of year at the Annual Meeting in time for Hill Day. This year, NABH updated the resource’s name to reflect the association’s advocacy priorities for the new Congress.

Two notable additions this year include “Increase Crisis Stabilization Services for 988 Hotline Calls” and “Maintain Coverage of Tele-Behavioral Healthcare.” The former relates to the universal, toll-free crisis hotline that holds great promise to prevent tragic outcomes and increase access to mental health and addiction treatment, while the latter advocates for expanded coverage of mental health and addiction treatment services via telehealth that have been critical during the Covid-19 global pandemic.

Each of the priorities explains an important advocacy issue for NABH and also outlines specific next steps to address it.

NABH urges its members to review the NABH Priorities for the 117^th Congress and contact any member of the NABH team with questions.

Senate Passes Bill to Extend Medicare Sequestration, Staving Off Automatic Payment Cuts

The Senate this week passed legislation that would provide a 9-month extension of the Medicare sequester moratorium that the CARES Act established and that would cut Medicare provider payments by 2%.

Late last year, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 provided a three-month extension of the Medicare sequestration moratorium, which is set to expire on March 31. The House is expected to consider the Senate-passed bill when Congress returns the week of April 12.

It is also expected that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will hold Medicare claims until the bill is signed into law, as the agency has done in the past.

Senate Confirms Vivek Murthy as U.S. Surgeon General

The Senate on Tuesday voted 57-43 to confirm Vivek Murthy, M.D. as U.S. surgeon general, a position Murthy held from 2014 through 2017.

As surgeon general, Murthy, 43, will oversee the U.S. Public Health Service commissioned corps, a uniformed service of about 6,000 public health workers who have helped manage the coronavirus response and administer vaccines.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician, as well as Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) were among the seven Senate Republicans who supported Murthy’s confirmation.

Late last week, the Senate confirmed former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Department. Earlier, Becerra served in Congress on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.

The Senate also has confirmed Rachel Levine, M.D., a pediatrician who served most recently as the secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, as assistant secretary of health at HHS.

HHS-OIG Highlights ‘Staff Burnout and Trauma’ in Report About Covid-19’s Effect on Hospitals

HHS’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) listed “Staff Burnout and Trauma” as one of U.S. hospitals’ main challenges in a report that concluded the Covid-19 pandemic has “significantly strained” U.S. healthcare delivery.

“Hospitals reported that increased hours and responsibilities, along with other stressors caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, resulted in staff being exhausted, mentally fatigued, and sometimes experiencing possible post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),” the 62-page report noted. “Several hospitals reported that witnessing Covid-19-related deaths especially weighed on staffs’ mental health.”

The OIG’s office spoke with representatives from 320 hospitals that were part of a random sample of 397 hospitals. Click here to read the full report.

Psychiatry Among Specialties With ‘Sizeable Increases’ in Last Five Years

Psychiatry joins the specialties of neurology, family medicine, emergency medicine, and internal medicine that have seen sizeable increases in the number of positions offered in the last five years, the National Residency Matching Program announced March 19.

The organization celebrated “Match Day” with the thousands of applicants and programs participating in the 2021 Main Residency Match, in which medical students and graduates from the United States and around the world learned which U.S. residency programs they will train for the next three to seven years.

This year’s results were highly anticipated, given the shift to virtual recruit due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The National Resident Matching Program noted that specialties serve as indicators of workforce supply, as match results may be a predictor of future physician workforce supply—especially when examining growth in specialties over time.

Register to Attend the 2021 Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit

The annual Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit, known as the largest annual conference that addresses America’s opioid and addiction crises, will be held virtually this year from April 5-8.

The conference will present more than 75 sessions across nine educational tracks and will cover topics ranging from prevention and treatment to public safety and technology. NABH Director of Quality and Addiction Services Sarah Wattenberg will present with representatives from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Veterans Affairs Department in a session titled, “Federal and Private Sector Responses to Opioid Treatment Issues During the Covid-19 Pandemic.”   

For additional information, download the conference brochure, and click here to register.  

Save the Date: NABH 2021 Annual Meeting

NABH will host its 2021 Annual Meeting from Wednesday, Oct. 6 – Friday, Oct. 8, 2021 at the Mandarin Oriental Washington, DC.

The association re-scheduled for this later date in 2021 due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. We hope you can join us!

After 2021, NABH will host its subsequent Annual Meetings in June. Please save the date for these future NABH Annual Meetings:

June 13-15, 2022

June 12-14, 2023

We look forward to seeing you again in Washington!

Fact of the Week

The National Center for PTSD estimates that 28% of people who have witnessed a mass shooting will suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, and about one-third from acute stress disorder.

For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond

Historic $1.9 Trillion Covid Relief Bill Includes Billions for Behavioral Healthcare

President Biden on Thursday signed the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion stimulus package to help Americans and the U.S. economy rebuild amid the Covid-19 global pandemic that brought the world to a halt a year ago this week.

The landmark legislation provides some $8.5 billion in new funding for the Provider Relief Fund, focused primarily on the nation’s rural providers. It also includes $125.8 billion for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, some of which may be used for mental health supports, such as implementing evidence-based services in schools.

In a White House announcement on Inauguration Day, the Biden administration said “Districts must ensure that funds are used to not only reopen schools, but also to meet students’ academic, mental health and social, and emotional needs in response to Covid-19 (e.g. through extended learning time, tutoring, and counselors), wherever they are learning.”

Meanwhile, the new law includes $3 billion for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) community mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment grants, and $420 million for Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics. It also provides $80 million in pediatric mental healthcare access funding, and $50 million in grants—for which behavioral health organizations are eligible—to address local behavioral health needs, including addressing surge capacity for behavioral health, telehealth, and crisis intervention services. The law also provides $30 million for substance use disorder (SUD) harm-reduction programs and $20 million for youth suicide-prevention programs.

Here are other essential behavioral healthcare provisions in the American Rescue Plan:

• Provides for mandatory coverage of COVID-19 vaccines, administration, and treatment under Medicaid

• Allows states to extend Medicaid eligibility to women for 12 months postpartum for five years

• Offers a Medicaid enhanced match (95%) for states that newly expand Medicaid as authorized under the Affordable Care Act

• Includes a 7-percent increase in Medicaid match for home and community-based services including mental health services

• Provides a Medicaid enhanced federal match (85% for three years) for mobile crisis services

• $100 million for Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training grants to graduate and professional training programs

• $40 million for behavioral healthcare providers to support mental health among their workforce

• $20 million to CDC for an education and awareness campaign directed to health care professionals and first responders

• $80 million for behavioral healthcare for first responders

NABH Joins Other Healthcare Organizations to Support Medicare Sequester Extension

NABH is one of nearly 50 healthcare organizations that has requested House and Senate leaders extend the Medicare sequester moratorium and prevent the projected 4-percent Medicare spending cut scheduled to begin next year.

Signed into law in late December, The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 provided a three-month extension—until March 31—of the Medicare sequester moratorium that the CARES Act enacted. Meanwhile, unless Congress acts, a sequestration order will be issued to reduce spending in fiscal year 2022 by $381 billion, including a reduction in Medicare spending by four percentage points, which is an estimated $36 billion for that year.

“Such extreme cuts would have a long-lasting and devastating impact on health care providers and patients alike,” the groups wrote in a letter Friday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

Fauci Says He is “Very Much” Concerned About a Mental Health Pandemic in Covid-19 Aftermath

Anthony Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Norah O’Donnell of the CBS Evening News this week he is “very much” concerned about a mental health pandemic in the wake of the Covid-19 public health emergency.

“That’s the reason why I want to get the virological aspect of this pandemic behind us,” Fauci said, “because the long-term ravages of this pandemic are so multifaceted.”

Fauci also expressed his concerns about the prolonged symptomatology for those who have had the Covid-19 virus, the pandemic’s long-lasting economic effects, and the amount of routine medical examinations that Americans were forced to forego during the pandemic’s shutdown.

SAMHSA Accepting Applications for MAT-Prescription Drug-Opioid Addiction Grants

SAMHSA is accepting applications for fiscal year 2021 Medication-Assisted Treatment-Prescription Drug and Opioid Addiction (MAT-PDOA) grants to expand and enhance access to MAT services for individuals with opioid use disorder who are seeking or receiving MAT.
 
SAMHSA’s announcement said the agency plans to issue about 89-135 awards of up to $1 million per year for states and up to $525,000 per year for other domestic, public or not-for-profit organizations for up to five years.

The deadline to apply is Tuesday, April 27. Click here to learn more and apply.

IPFQR Webinar Scheduled for Next Week

The Quality Reporting Center has scheduled a webinar for participants in the Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Quality Reporting (IPFQR) Program about navigating public reporting websites on Wednesday, March 17 at 2 p.m. ET.

According to an announcement, the presentation will describe how the IPF community can access publicly reported IPFQR program data on the Medicare Care Compare and Provider Data Catalog websites.

Click here to learn more and to register.

Upcoming Opioid Crisis Webinar to Feature SAMHSA Chief Medical Officer Neeraj Gandotra, M.D.

SAMHSA Chief Medical Officer Neeraj Gandotra, M.D. will lead a panel of experts in a webinar to explore how healthcare providers, government agencies, and not-for-profit organizations can work together to address the nation’s ongoing opioid crisis.

Healthcare software company WellSky will present the webinar, which is intended to help registrants learn about effective care coordination, effective strategies to produce better outcomes, and how advocates are working to align patient data sharing with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

The webinar is scheduled for Thursday, March 25 at 1 p.m. Click here to register.

Register to Attend the 2021 Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit

The annual Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit, known as the largest annual conference that addresses America’s opioid and addiction crises, will be held virtually this year from April 5-8.

The conference will present more than 75 sessions across nine educational tracks and will cover topics ranging from prevention and treatment to public safety and technology. NABH Director of Quality and Addiction Services Sarah Wattenberg will present with representatives from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Veterans Affairs Department in a session titled, “Federal and Private Sector Responses to Opioid Treatment Issues During the Covid-19 Pandemic.”

For additional information, download the conference brochure, and click here to register.

Save the Date: NABH 2021 Annual Meeting 

NABH will host its 2021 Annual Meeting from Wednesday, Oct. 6 – Friday, Oct. 8, 2021 at the Mandarin Oriental Washington, DC.

The association re-scheduled for this later date in 2021 due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. We hope you can join us!

After 2021, NABH will host its subsequent Annual Meetings in June. Please save the date for these future NABH Annual Meetings:

• June 13-15, 2022

• June 12-14, 2023

We look forward to seeing you again in Washington!

Fact of the Week

A recent Kaiser Family Foundation health tracking poll found that during the Covid-19 pandemic, adults in households with job loss or lower incomes reported higher rates of symptoms of mental illness than those without job or income loss: 53% versus 32%.

For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond

Murthy Vows to Focus on Pandemic’s Mental Health Effects if Confirmed as Surgeon General

U.S. surgeon general nominee Vivek Murthy, M.D. said this week he will focus on the mental health effects of the Covid-19 global pandemic if he is confirmed to the post.

Murthy told CBS This Morning on Tuesday that the nation is facing a “deeply concerning” increase in mental illness during the pandemic, including among children.

“We know a lot of what we need to do, we just aren’t doing it,” Murthy said in the interview. “We have, for example, programs that we could be investing in schools to help provide mental health counseling to kids to detect symptoms of mental illness,” he continued. “We can train more mental health providers.” Ultimately, Murthy said, the country needs to have a “very different conversation” about mental health.

“If you are struggling with your mental health, that does not mean that you are broken,” Murthy said. “What it means is that you are a human being having a human experience—one that many of us have been going through during this pandemic and many will experience long after the pandemic is over.”

Murthy served as America’s 19th surgeon general from December 2014 until April 2017.

Joint Commission Journal Publishes Report on Staff Emotional Support During Pandemic

The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety this week published a study that examined different interventions that Montefiore Medical Center (MMC) applied to treat psychological distress among staff during the pandemic.

According to the November 2020 study, the health system’s Moses campus admitted two patients diagnosed with Covid-19 a year ago on March 11, 2020. At the time of the study’s writing, more than 6,000 patients were admitted to MMC (including 91% from the Bronx), and more than 2,200 patients and 21 staff died from the virus.

“On March 15, 2020, psychiatry leadership collaborated with leadership from various sectors of MMC to establish the Staff Emotional Support (SES) Team,” the study noted. “Over 10 weeks during the initial phase of the pandemic, the SES Team created a variety of mental health services to meet the needs of as many staff as possible, understanding that individuals respond to traumatic experiences and to support services in diverse ways.”

The study said MMC applied a host of interventions, including psychoeducational resources, a phone support line, staff support centers (SSCs), a clinical treatment program, team support sessions, and more.

“We believe that SSCs were the most frequently used,” the report said, “because they were easily accessible places for respite, refreshment, and recharging and offered a basic forum of human connection not necessarily associated with the potential stigma of seeking formal support.”

IPFQR Webinar Scheduled for Wednesday, March 17

The Quality Reporting Center has scheduled a webinar for participants in the Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Quality Reporting (IPFQR) Program about navigating public reporting websites on Wednesday, March 17 at 2 p.m. ET.

According to an announcement, the presentation will describe how the IPF community can access publicly reported IPFQR program data on the Medicare Care Compare and Provider Data Catalog websites.

Click here to learn more and to register.

SAMHSA Accepting Applications for MAT-Prescription Drug-Opioid Addiction Grants

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is accepting applications for fiscal year 2021 Medication-Assisted Treatment-Prescription Drug and Opioid Addiction (MAT-PDOA) grants to expand and enhance access to MAT services for individuals with opioid use disorder who are seeking or receiving MAT.

SAMHSA’s announcement said the agency plans to issue about 89-135 awards of up to $1 million per year for states and up to $525,000 per year for other domestic, public or not-for-profit organizations for up to five years.

The deadline to apply is Tuesday, April 27. Click here to learn more and apply.

Register to Attend the 2021 Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit

The annual Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit, known as the largest annual conference that addresses America’s opioid and addiction crises, will be held virtually this year from April 5-8.

The conference will present more than 75 sessions across nine educational tracks and will cover topics ranging from prevention and treatment to public safety and technology. NABH Director of Quality and Addiction Services Sarah Wattenberg will present with representatives from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Veterans Affairs Department in a session titled, “Federal and Private Sector Responses to Opioid Treatment Issues During the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

For additional information, download the conference brochure, and click here to register.

Register to Attend the 6^th Annual Population Health Payer Innovations for Medicare, Medicaid & Duals

The 6^th Annual Population Health Payer Innovations for Medicare, Medicaid, & Duals will host its conference virtually this year from May 18-19.

Free for hospitals, the conference will address topics such as combatting the opioid crisis, using community paramedics, and partnering clinical and analytic teams to explore value-based insurance design (VBID) models of care. Health plans that focus on Medicaid, Medicare, and dual-eligible beneficiaries, along with providers, will share best practices and how to build and manage population health programs to ensure compliance, improve outcomes, and control costs.

Click here to learn more and to register.

Save the Date: NABH 2021 Annual Meeting

NABH will host its 2021 Annual Meeting from Wednesday, Oct. 6 – Friday, Oct. 8, 2021 at the Mandarin Oriental Washington, DC.

The association re-scheduled for this later date in 2021 due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. We hope you can join us!

After 2021, NABH will host its subsequent Annual Meetings in June. Please save the date for these future NABH Annual Meetings:

• June 13-15, 2022

• June 12-14, 2023

We look forward to seeing you again in Washington!

Fact of the Week 

A new study found that health literacy (HL) “strongly correlated” with two-week and total readmissions among adult patients with bipolar disorder and supported the feasibility of assessing HL further in this patient population. The findings could also be useful for patient education, discharge planning, and policymaking.

For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond

CDC Reports U.S. Suicide Rate Fell Before Covid-19 Global Pandemic

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week reported that after increasing for 13 years, the U.S. suicide rate dropped overall by 2% between 2018 and 2019, but it cautioned those figures do not account for the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact.

A total of 47,511 deaths were attributed to suicide in 2019, with half involving guns, although that rate also fell, the Atlanta-based agency said. Suicide rates declined by 3.2% for women and 1.8% for men. Meanwhile, the decrease varied by state and race, falling overall in Idaho, Indiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Virginia—and only among white people.

People aged 85 and older had the highest suicide rate of any age group, and levels appeared lowest in large, central metropolitan areas.

“As the United States continues to respond to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic and its long-term impacts on isolation, stress, economic insecurity, and worsening mental health and wellness, prevention is more important than ever,” the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report noted. “Past research indicates that suicide rates remain stable or decline during infrastructure disruption (e.g., natural disasters), only to rise afterwards as the longer-term sequalae unfold in persons, families, and communities.”

‘Unified Vision’ to Address Mental Health and SUD Gains Support from 35 More Organizations

Thirty-five additional organizations have offered their support to the Unified Vision, a seven-pillar roadmap to address the future of mental health and substance use disorders (SUD) in America that a coalition of mental health and SUD organizations announced in December.

NABH is part of that coalition, which developed the Unified Vision to provide action items meant to encourage and establish policy, programs, and standards that prioritize mental health and substance use care. The Unified Vision also addresses the social and economic conditions that disproportionately affect people of color and people whose income levels are below the federal poverty level.

Organizations that joined recently include the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Anxiety and Depression Association of America, National Association of School Nurses, and Trust for America’s Health.

“An early priority is to break down the silos that currently exist in the mental health and substance use care space, which are all too often barriers to systemic change,” Daniel H. Gillison, Jr. of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said in an announcement this week about the new signatories. “Our leadership team and recent signatories collectively represent close to 40 independent organizations, willing to work together on one of the direst issues of our time.”

NABH, National Council and NASMHPD Urge CDC to Include Persons with SMI and SUD in Phase 1c Vaccination Groups

NABH, the National Council, and the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) have urged the CDC to include individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) and SUD in the agency’s Phase 1c vaccination groups for Covid-19 due to the high mortality rates among these patients from the coronavirus.

In a letter to CDC Acting Director Rochelle Walensky, M.D., the three organizations assert that by excluding individuals with serious behavioral health conditions from Phase 1c prioritizations, these persons face increased risk of severe illness from Covid-19. CDC should also take immediate steps to distribute available vaccines directly to outpatient and inpatient behavioral health providers, the letter noted.

The three groups outlined some action steps, such as urging the CDC to partner with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to allocate directly a limited supply of Covid-19 vaccine to select community mental health centers and community behavioral health organizations and inpatient psychiatric hospitals, as well as outpatient and residential treatment providers.

NABH Signs MHLG Coalition Letter to Support the TREAT Act

As a member of the Mental Health Liaison Group, NABH this week signed a letter to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and House Energy & Commerce Committees supporting the recently introduced Temporary Reciprocity to Ensure Access to Treatment Act (TREAT).

The legislation from Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Reps. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) and Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) would increase access to healthcare services during the Covid-19 public health emergency by allowing practitioners with licenses to provide services—including telehealth services—in all states for the duration of the public health emergency.

“The TREAT Act aims to increase access to crucial health services during this time by temporarily permitting health professionals to practice across state lines,” the letter noted. “The bill stipulates that a provider who holds a valid license in any state (and is not barred in another state) can practice in accordance with applicable state law in every state during the national public health emergency and during a 180-day transition period after the declaration is lifted,” it added.

Children’s Healthcare Groups Launch Youth Mental Health Awareness Campaign

The Children’s Hospital Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) this week urged Congress and the Biden administration to prioritize children’s mental, emotional, and behavioral health in proposals that address the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a joint announcement, the two organizations emphasized that the pandemic has exacerbated a disturbing trend, as hospital admissions and emergency room visits for suicide attempts doubled at children’s hospitals between 2008 and 2015. Hospitalizations at U.S. children’s hospitals increased last summer amid the pandemic, which included a 20% increase in suicide attempts and more than 40% in disruptive behavior disorders.

“Almost a year into the pandemic, what began as a public health emergency is turning in a mental health crisis among our nation’s children and adolescents,” Dr. Lee Beers, president of the AAP, said in a news release. “The duration of the pandemic, isolation from friends and family, effects of parental stress and economic hardship, and loss of loved ones are all taking their toll on children’s mental health,” he added. “Now is the time for us to step up and invest in a broad-scale, comprehensive approach to prevention, early intervention, and treatment.”

Register to Attend the 2021 Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit

The annual Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit, known as the largest annual conference that addresses America’s opioid and addiction crises, will be held virtually this year from April 5-8.

The conference will present more than 75 sessions across nine educational tracks and will cover topics ranging from prevention and treatment to public safety and technology.

For additional information, download the conference brochure, and click here to register.

Register to Attend the 6^th Annual Population Health Payer Innovations for Medicaid, Medicare & Duals

The 6^th Annual Population Health Payer Innovations for Medicaid, Medicare & Duals will host its conference virtually this year from May 18-19.

Free for hospitals, the conference will address topics such as combatting the opioid crisis, using community paramedics, and partnering clinical and analytic teams to explore value-based insurance design (VBID) models of care. Health plans that focus on Medicaid, Medicare, and dual-eligible beneficiaries, along with providers, will share best practices and how to build and manage population health programs to ensure compliance, improve outcomes, and control costs.

Click here to learn more and to register.

Save the Date: NABH 2021 Annual Meeting

NABH will host its 2021 Annual Meeting from Wednesday, Oct. 6 – Friday, Oct. 8, 2021 at the Mandarin Oriental Washington, DC.

The association re-scheduled for this later date in 2021 due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. We hope you can join us!

After 2021, NABH will host its subsequent Annual Meetings in June. Please save the date for these future NABH Annual Meetings:

• June 13-15, 2022

• June 12-14, 2023

We look forward to seeing you again in Washington!

Fact of the Week

Non-prescribed fentanyl and methamphetamine increased 78% and 29%, respectively, according to a new study from Millennium Health.
 
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond

House Reconciliation Package Includes Strong Support for Behavioral Healthcare

U.S. House committees this week began marking up the Covid-19 reconciliation package that largely reflects the Biden administration’s priorities and includes strong support for behavioral healthcare and a number of NABH priorities.

House members expect quick passage on a party-line basis for the legislation, which includes significant funding for state and local governments. NABH will apprise members of the final bill’s provisions when they are available. As of this week, the reconciliation package:

• Includes Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) block grants funded at $3.5 billion, split equally between the Block Grants for Community Mental Health Services and the Block Grants for Prevention and Treatment of Substance Abuse. Taken in conjunction with the $4.25 billion in funding that SAMHSA received in December as part of the stimulus package, this represents the largest onetime federal investment in behavioral health in our nation’s history.

• Addresses the so-called Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy (MIEP) by allowing for medical assistance under Medicaid for inmates during the 30-day period preceding their release. This provision would expire after five years.

• Provides enhanced Medicaid support for bundled mobile crisis intervention. States would be permitted to provide bundled payments for mobile crisis services at an 85% FMAP rate. This provision would expire after five years.

• Provides for mandatory coverage of Covid-19 vaccines, administration, and treatment under Medicaid.

• Allows states to extend Medicaid eligibility to women for 12 months postpartum for five years.

• Provides $100 million for Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training (BHWET) grants through the Public Health Service.

• Provides $80 million for behavioral healthcare training for health care professionals, paraprofessionals, and public safety officers in the form of grants through the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

• Provides $30 million for community-based substance use disorder programs for harm-reduction services and the prevention and control of the spread of infectious diseases through SAMHSA.

• Provides $20 million for youth suicide prevention activities.

After the House passes this latest Covid-19 relief package, the Senate is expected to consider it after the upper chamber completes former President Trump’s impeachment trial.

Foley & Lardner Survey Examines Telehealth Commercial Insurance Laws Across States

Forty-three states and Washington, D.C. maintain some sort of telehealth commercial payer statute, although the quality and efficacy of these laws varies considerably from state to state, a new telehealth survey from law firm Foley & Lardner shows.

The 190-page report notes that the legal landscape has “significantly improved” since the firm’s 2019 report, which is intended as a guide to telehealth insurance laws and regulations for healthcare providers, lawmakers, entrepreneurs, telemedicine companies, and other industry stakeholders.

According to the report, although telehealth coverage has expanded widely, the same cannot be said for reimbursement/payment parity.

“Currently, 22 states maintain laws expressly addressing reimbursement of telehealth services (an increase from 16 states in 2019), and 14 of those offer true “payment parity” (an increase from 10 in 2019), meaning that providers outside those 14 states may find they receive lower payment for telehealth-based services compared to in-person services (i.e., same service code, but different reimbursement rates),” the report said. “States with payment parity laws are Arkansas, California, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.”

Kaiser Family Foundation Analysis Shows Covid-19 Pandemic’s Effects on Mental Health and SUD

A new issue brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation reports that about four in 10 U.S. adults have reported symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder during the Covid-19 global pandemic, up from one in 10 adults who reported these symptoms from January to June 2019.

Meanwhile, a Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll from July 2020 found that many adults are reporting specific negative effects on their mental health and well-being, such as difficulty sleeping (36%) or eating (32%), increases in alcohol and consumption or substance use (12%), and worsening chronic conditions (12%) due to worry and stress about the coronavirus.

The study also examines the effects of adults losing their jobs, communities of color, young adults, and essential workers.

Pandemic-Related Alcohol Abuse Leads to Hospitalizations for Liver Disease

Hospitals nationwide have reported dramatic increases in alcohol-related admissions for critical diseases such as alcoholic hepatitis and liver failure, according to a story published this week in the Los Angeles Times.

The story reported that alcoholism-related liver disease was a growing problem even before the Covid-19 pandemic, with about 15 million people diagnosed with the condition nationwide and with hospitalizations doubling during the last decade.

“But the pandemic has dramatically added to the toll,” the story noted. “Although national figures are not available, admissions for alcoholic liver disease at Keck Hospital of the University of Southern California were up 30% in 2020 compared with 2019, said Dr. Brian Lee, a transplant hepatologist who treats the condition in alcoholics.”

Meanwhile, specialists affiliated with the University of Michigan, Northwestern University, Harvard University, and Mount Sinai Health System in New York City reported rates of admissions for alcoholic liver disease have risen by up to 50% since last March.

Click here to read the full story.

CMS’ Medicaid Initiatives Can Help States Fund the New Crisis Stabilization Services for Callers to the 988 Hotline

In a recent interview with Crisis Talk, Kirsten Beronio, NABH’s director of policy and regulatory affairs, explains how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Medicaid initiatives can help states fund crisis stabilization services for callers to 988, the new three-digit national hotline for behavioral health emergencies.

“988 has the potential to be a game-changer,” said Beronio, a former senior policy advisor at CMS, “And if we talk about it as a behavioral health crisis line, then states and commercial payers are more likely to see it as offering concrete opportunities to make improvements on a broader set of behavioral health issues that they’ve been struggling to address.”

Click here to read Kirsten’s interview.

Register Today for National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week: March 22-28, 2021

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) urges providers to register and sponsor an event for National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week, which will be held from March 22-28 this year.

The week-long observance highlights science-based facts on how drugs and alcohol affect the brain and body, and NIDA has created five steps for providers to host an event.

Click here to register and learn more.

Save the Date: NABH 2021 Annual Meeting

NABH will host its 2021 Annual Meeting from Wednesday, Oct. 6 – Friday, Oct. 8, 2021 at the Mandarin Oriental Washington, DC.

The association re-scheduled for this later date in 2021 due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. We hope you can join us!

After 2021, NABH will host its subsequent Annual Meetings in June. Please save the date for these future NABH Annual Meetings:

• June 13-15, 2022

• June 12-14, 2023

We look forward to seeing you again in Washington!

Fact of the Week

A new study from researchers at the Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry found that people with serious mental illness are significantly overrepresented in deaths by suicide, even compared with individuals with other psychiatric diagnoses. Despite making up around 4% of the population of the United States, people with serious mental illness accounted for more than twice (8.7%) of those deaths by suicide, according to the results published in Schizophrenia Research.
 
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