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During the past several months we have experienced a flurry of national and statewide activity to formulate new and broadsweeping health care policies that could profoundly impact behavioral health care services. Of particular interest are efforts focused upon national healthcare reform, parity regulations, California MediCaid waiver revisions, and modernizing AOD-related privacy laws.. It will take awhile longer for anything more definitive to emerge, but certain trends are becoming clear. Because it will take time to prepare for these policy changes, we thought it best to begin informing many of you now even while they are still in formative stages. We began doing so in several provider meetings and promised to post more in-depth reference materials on our website. A list of those materials with brief descriptions and easy ways to access them follows. We will also add new materials here from time to time:
https://www.niatx.net/action/webinars.aspx: .webinar and associated slide presentation delivered by Tom McLellan, Ph.D., Deputy Director of the President’s Office of National Drug Control Policy. Anticipates future trends in AOD services nationwide based on President’s platform policy to be released in late February
Healthcare Reform – Mady Chalk Presentation: slide presentation delivered by Mady Chalk, Ph.D., current national consultant from Treatment Research Institute and former Chief Program Officer at SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.
Substance Use Conditions and the Healthcare Home: draft policy paper by Barbara Mauer, MSW and Dale Jarvis, MBA delivered at CADPAAC’s Quarterly meeting in January They are leading national consultants in applications of national healthcare reform for mental health and substance use conditions, and consultants to both CADPAAC and CMHDA on positioning our respective services for the California MediCaid Waiver. This paper is the only one of its kind to specifically address how substance use services should be positioned to link with person-centered healthcare home models in the context of national healthcare reform. It includes a summary of research findings on such issues as medical cost offset for AOD services.
CADPAAC Jan 28 2010: slide presentation by Barbara Mauer, MSW and Dale Jarvis, MBA delivered at CADPAAC’s Quarterly meeting in January based upon the above-mentioned paper.
January 2010 parity reg highlights: Highlights of the newly released parity regulations for implementation by insurance plans. Prescribes how mental health, alcohol and other drug treatment benefits must be provided at parity with physical health benefits.
Parity & CMS Medicaid Letter: Letter from CMS interpreting the extent to which the new parity legislation, designed primarily for private sector insurance plans, applies to Medicaid benefits.
42 CFR 1 pgr 11-19-09.doc and Modernizing 42 CFR Part 2 11-19-09: Two brief papers describing the rationale for and goals of a new national initiative to explore modernizing 42 CFR Part 2 regulations designed to protect the privacy and confidentiality of AOD treatment records and provide guidance for how their contents can be shared for coordination of care. Reflects a long-term and very important debate cast anew within the context of healthcare reform, electronic health records, and the need for improved coordination if not integration of substance use care with mental health and primary care.
Confidentiality of Alcohol and Drug Records in the 21st Century 1-20-10: A rejoined from the Legal Action Center that acknowledges the dilemmas presented by the group as a rationale, but proposes working with SAMHSA to explore how to interpret the law more flexibly rather than rewrite it.
CADPAAC – Sacramento Weisner 1-28-2010 to Renfree: slide presentation delivered by Connie Weisner, Ph.D., a nationally eminent AOD researcher, delivered at the January CADPAAC Quarterly meeting. The presentation features compelling findings on medical cost offset from AOD treatment (for both clients and their family members), and also makes the case for the importance of coordinating AOD care more closely with primary care.
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