July 2014 Committed to Behavioral Health The Legislature affirmed their commitment to mental health and addiction treatment ABH August last month as the House of Representatives passed their version of historic legislation Committee expanding access to addiction treatment for both MassHealth members and individuals with commercial insurance and the Fiscal Year 2015 Conference Committee budget Meetings made historic investments in behavioral health coverage and transparency. Both branches have now endorsed the principle that addiction treatment services should be covered by insurers. The mandated coverage of both Acute Treatment Ser- Friday, August 1 vices (ATS) and Clinical Stabilization Services (CSS) without prior authorization for Children’s Policy, both MassHealth and commercial insured individuals is a significant step for individuals 10 a.m. who need access to addiction treatment. The House and Senate will now appoint a conference committee to iron out differences between the versions of the bill. We will Tuesday, August 5 keep you updated as the bill continues through the legislative process. In addition, the ATS, 10 a.m. Fiscal Year 2015 Conference Committee budget now goes to the Governor for his ap- proval. The budget includes the following highlights: An increase of $27.4 million in DMH funding over Fiscal Year 2014. The DMH appropria- Friday, August 8 tion is higher than was recommended by either the House or the Senate. Corporate Includes a new $10 million line item to fund 100 new DMH community placements for indi- Compliance, 10 a.m. viduals currently stuck in continuing care beds who are ready for discharge. Requirement that DMH increase the number of inpatient continuing care beds it operates to Monday, August 11 671. DMH must continue to operate 45 inpatient beds at Taunton State Hospital and is also required to open the rest of the beds in Worcester. Billing, 10 a.m. (JRI, Needham) An increase of $15 million in BSAS funding over Fiscal Year 2014. The BSAS appropria- tion is higher than was recommended by the House or the Senate. Funding for 32 new ATS beds and 32 new CSS beds. Tuesday, August 19 A new $10 million line item to fund expanded addiction treatment services. Methadone, 9:30 a.m. A new $1 million line item to fund access to Narcan for bystanders and first responders. A new line item funded at $400,000 for MassHealth to pursue Medicaid state plan amend- ments including health homes. “$8 million for providers in the MassHealth PCC Mental Health and Substance Abuse plan.” All meetings are held at ABH An $8 million annualized salary reserve for low paid human service workers. unless otherwise noted. For An increase of $37 million in funding for DCF. more information, call Outside section language that requires MassHealth managed care organizations to 508-647-8385. publically disclose the terms of their subcontracts for the management and delivery of behavioral health services. This language has been ABH’s top legislative priority for the past three years. Ask a Staffer: Lydia Conley ABH recently welcomed Lydia Conley back into its folds as its new Vice President for Mental Health. As you may remember, Lydia previously worked for ABH, most recently as its Vice President for Public Policy, until leaving to work at the Department of Transitional Assistance in 2008. There, she most recently served as Assistant Commissioner for Policy, Programs & External Relations at the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA). What you may not know, is that Lydia is the original founder of the ABH e-update. We asked her to take a few moments to answer some questions for her favorite literary work. e-update: Prior to returning to ABH, you served as the Assistant Commissioner for Policy, Programs & External Rela- tions for the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA). How do you feel that this position prepared you for your new role as ABH's Vice President for Mental Health? Lydia: Working at DTA was a terrific experience. It gave me a practical understanding of how complex state agency operations are and how priorities and resources are constantly being juggled. Of course, com- plex issues, shifting priorities and resource competition will sound familiar to staff in community-based or- ganizations. While there is sometimes cynicism about government and the people who choose to work in it, my experience does not bear that out. At DTA, I was fortunate to work with intelligent, dedicated and hardworking people who genuinely wanted to do their jobs well and to make people’s lives better. I hope that this perspective will be helpful to ABH in maintaining and strengthening relationships with our state agency partners. e-update: In addition to working for the Department of Transitional Assistance, you also spent three years working for the Massachusetts House of Representatives. How did your experiences working in state government shape your view of behavioral health policy? Lydia: I don’t know if state government work shaped my view of behavioral health policy per se, but I defi- nitely have seen that government has the power to affect people’s lives for the better. For example, Chapter 257 is tremendously important to ensuring that behavioral health services remain of high quality and are ac- cessible to people who need them. What I learned in both the legislative and executive branches of govern- ment is that you need to be able to demonstrate why you should have a seat at the table when decisions are being made. ABH, with its breadth and depth of experience, has shown itself to be a key player in advocating for high-quality, community-based care for families and individuals with mental illness, addiction and sub- stance-use disorders. e-update: What are you most looking forward in your new position as Vice President for Mental Health? Lydia: There have been landmark policy, program and reimbursement shifts in the six years I have been out of the field. I am really looking forward to learning how those changes impacted and continue to impact ABH members as well as individuals and families accessing and receiving behavioral healthcare. I’ll be doing a lot of site visits with our provider experts over the summer to learn more. e-update: Rumor has it that you sometimes (gasp!) watch television in your free time. What's your all time favorite show? Lydia: That’s a tough one. My children are named after my two favorite Law & Order characters, but if I had to pick a favorite show, it would be Arrested Development. It was a witty show with an excellent cast that treated its viewers with intelligence. Unlike Modern Family – a show I also enjoy - Arrested Develop- ment focused on a family that stuck together even when individual members behaved terribly, which was most of the time. I own the whole series – it was hilarious. Lydia can be reached at 508-647-8385, x. 15 or by email at [email protected]. Integration Efforts Over the past few years, we’ve talked a great deal about integration of behavioral and primary healthcare and worked to foster efforts at integration. The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation is offering a one-year grant: Fostering Effective In- tegration of Behavioral Health and Primary Care in Massachusetts. The goal is to pro- vide “program support, and in-depth assessment and documentation of successes, ob- stacles, best practices and opportunities for improvement among experienced integra- tion programs.” Organizations may receive up to $150,000 and the grant will run from December 31, 2014 to December 31, 2015. Grant guidelines and application infor- mation are available here. Note that initial letters of inquiry are due on July 9. Looking for snip- pets and tidbits Opioid Task Force Report of the latest be- Following Governor Patrick’s March declaration of a public health emergency in re- havioral health sponse to the growing opioid overdose crisis, the state created a Department of Public information? Health Opioid Task Force to provide recommendations in order to strengthen the state’s addiction treatment and prevention system. Last month, the Task Force re- Check out the leased its final report. The findings included: National Coun- Need for increased education for youth and families about the dangers of drug use. cil’s Expert Buzz. Need for increased education for prescribers to ensure safe and effective pain man- agement Opportunities exist to improve safe prescribing and dispensing of controlled sub- stances. Need for centralized treatment resources. Individuals and families report challenges in accessing services beyond simply know- ing where they are. Providers and consumers express concerns about barriers to access. Correctional facilities are an important site of care for opioid addiction. Need for peer support in the recovery process. Need for expanded recovery services across the state. Recommended actions include: Expansion of treatment beds. Formation of a centralized navigation system for patients, families, and first re- sponders to locate treatment services. A public-facing dashboard that would help facilitate consumer choice of services. Additional opioid prevention coalitions for support and education. More stringent safeguards for those opioids which are most frequently abused and misused. A meeting of New England governors to develop a regional response to the opioid epidemic. The expansion of the use of injectable naltrexone for persons re-entering the com- munity from correctional facilities. Update your Rolodex With the addition of Lydia Conley to the ABH staff and the retirement of Sara Hartman, there will be a couple of chang- ABH STAFF es to ABH staff extensions. Connie Peters, ABH’s Vice Presi- dent for Addiction can now be reached at 508-647-8385, x13 and Lydia Conley, ABH’s Vicker V. DiGravio III President/CEO Vice President for Mental Health can be reached at 508-647-8385, x15.