NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH) and Office of Alcoholism & Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) have extended the deadline for spending one-time start-up funds for designated HCBS agencies to December 31, 2016. If you have received HCBS start-up funds but haven’t had time to … Read More
Issue Briefs
Keeping Up With The DSM-V: Critical Changes in the Diagnosis of PTSD
Posted on by Susan Liebold
“identify the trigger to PTSD as exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury or sexual violation. The exposure must result from one or more of the following scenarios, in which the individual: directly experiences the traumatic event; witnesses the traumatic event in person; … Read More
Addressing Addiction for Mental Health Awareness
Posted on by Susan Liebold
From 2001 to 2014, there is a 2.8-fold increase in the total number of National Overdose Deaths from Prescription Drugs. From a 2011 CDC study, the Source of abused prescription painkillers are from friends or relative. A State-by-State analysis of health care cost attributable … Read More
What’s in grandma’s cocktail?
Posted on by Susan Liebold
“The combination of alcohol and medication misuse has been estimated to affect up to 19% of older Americans.” “Approximately 25% of older adults use prescription psychoactive medications that have a potential to be misused and abused.” “Older adults are more likely to take prescribed … Read More
Medicaid Managed Care Meets the Mental Health Parity Act
Posted on by Susan Liebold
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) estimates that 1 in 5, or about 43 million Americans, have a diagnosable mental disorder. Almost 10 million of these adults, 1 in 25, experience a serious functional impairment. In a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) … Read More
The Impact of Minority Health Disparities on Avoidable Admissions
Posted on by Susan Liebold
System transformations focused on preventing avoidable admissions must address health disparities that continue to exist among minority populations. A paradigm shift from an acute care model to an integrated care model for complex chronic diseases is not sufficient when the systematic barriers to care continue to … Read More
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA)
Posted on by Susan Liebold
Parity implementation is a shared responsibility. Individual providers, provider systems with health plan products, health plans and their managed care vendors that oversee behavioral health benefits, governance entities, and consumers as well as consumer advocates are essential in ensuring access to appropriate levels of … Read More
Interventions for Trauma-Informed Care
Posted on by Susan Liebold
Imagine, after surviving a trauma, you are so impacted that you have trouble breathing. It’s like taking a breath that is shortened and never reaches your lung. It’s stuck somewhere in your throat and your whole body tenses. It’s hard to blink, hard to … Read More
HIV Risk and Prevalence among Minority Women
Posted on by Susan Liebold
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), women account for 20% of new HIV infections in the United States. In 2011, of all women living with HIV, only 45% were receiving care and only 32% were reported to have achieved viral … Read More
Integrated Care and Data Exchange
Posted on by Susan Liebold
The Office for the National Coordinator (ONC) released a fact sheet on the Exchange for Health Care Operations (45 Code of Federal Regulations 164.506 (c) (4)) that clarifies the uses and disclosures of patient information and data exchange between provider sets/Covered Entities (CE). Protected Health Information … Read More