The System of Care Movement has lost one of its early pioneers with the passing of Dr. Jerome Hanley.
Jerome H. Hanley, Ph.D, was a clinical child psychologist and most recently Director of the Office of Multi-Cultural Affairs for the South Carolina Department of Mental Health. Previous to this position he served for 17 years as the director of the Division of Children, Adolescents and Their Families within the South Carolina Department of Mental Health. He was also a professor with the University of South Carolina Department of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science, and a Fellow of the Institute for Families in Society. He was the first African-American licensed clinical psychologist in the state of South Carolina and the first African-American psychologist to serve on the state licensing board.
I first met Jerome when he was heading up the CASSP grant in South Carolina in the 1990's. He was passionate about improving children's mental health services in the South Carolina and throughout the United States. He was equally passionate about the importance of infusing cultural competence into every aspect of his work and our work to make this world a little better for youth with emotional and behavioral challenges and their families. Jerome was a force to be reckoned with - An orator, scholar, and pretty darned good at telling a joke or two. He will be missed.
- "Understanding the cultures of those we serve requires more than words and good intentions. The journey toward cultural competence requires the willingness to learn from ones experiences and act."
~ Jerome Hanley, PhD, Beyond the Tip of the Iceberg: Five Stages Toward Cultural Competence ~
If you knew Jerome and would like to share a comment or remembrance please do so. We will forward your thoughts on to those who love him most in South Carolina.
Scott Bryant-Comstock
Obituary posted in The State, February 21, 2012
National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day is a key strategy of the Caring for Every Child's Mental Health Campaign, which is part of the Public Awareness and Support Strategic Initiative by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
The effort seeks to raise awareness about the importance of children's mental health and that positive mental health is essential to a child's healthy development from birth. Last year, the national theme focused on building resilience in young children dealing with trauma.
Communities around the country participated by holding their own Awareness Day events, focusing either on the national theme, or adapting the theme to the populations they serve.
Click here to download the "2011 Short Report: Helping Children and Youth Who Have Experienced Traumatic Events". (PDF - 168 kb)
Save the date for Awareness Day 2012 — Wednesday, May 9, 2012!
Click here to learn about the Benefits of Collaborating on Awareness Day Year-Round.
To follow the progress of Awareness Day planning for 2012 go to the SAMHSA website and find out how you can get involved!
Be sure to also check out what is happening during the entire week of celebration!
Awareness Day falls in the middle of Children's Mental Health Awareness Week so be sure to check out what the National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health is doing through its Chapters and State Organizations leading up to a most festive and celebratory week. The National Federation and SAMHSA work closely together during this week of celebration so participate in both amazing events!
A new RAND Corporation study concludes that eliminating a key part of health care reform that requires all Americans to have health insurance would sharply lower the number of people gaining coverage, but would not dramatically increase the cost of buying policies through new insurance exchanges.
The study comes as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments in March regarding the constitutionality of the individual mandate, a key provision of 2010's Affordable Care Act.
Key points in the RAND Corporation press release include:
- According to estimates created using a microsimulation model created by the RAND Comprehensive Assessment of Reform Efforts (COMPARE) program, the number of Americans predicted to get coverage in 2016 under the Affordable Care Act would drop from 27 million to 15 million if the individual mandate were eliminated.
- "Our analysis suggests eliminating the individual mandate would sharply decrease coverage, but it would not send premiums into a 'death spiral' that would make health insurance unaffordable to those who do not qualify for government subsidies," said Christine Eibner, the study's lead author and an economist at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.
- Another consequence of repealing the individual mandate would be a sharp increase in the amount of government spending for each person newly enrolled in a health insurance plan. Because most individuals who remain enrolled if the mandate is eliminated are eligible for significant government subsidies, government spending for those newly insured would more than double, rising to $7,468, according to the RAND Health study.
- "The individual mandate is critical not only to achieving near-universal health care coverage among Americans, but also to yielding a high value in terms of federal spending to expand coverage," Eibner said. "Without the individual mandate, the government would have to spend more overall to insure a lot fewer people."
Download the study here "The Effect of the Affordable Care Act on Enrollment and Premiums, With and Without the Individual Mandate"
For Network readers this is an important perspective to review to help more fully understand the importance of a mandate as a part of health care reform. Happy reading!
The Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University‘s Public Policy Institute has announced its 2012 Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare: Multi-System Integration Certificate Programs. The Certificate Programs are week-long periods of intensive study designed for organization and system leaders working with youth known to the juvenile justice and child welfare systems—youth commonly referred to as “crossover youth.” The programs are targeted at public and private sector leaders working in the juvenile justice, child welfare, judiciary, behavioral health, education and other systems that serve crossover youth. The programs utilize a multi-systems and multi-disciplinary approach in focusing on policies, programs and practices that improve outcomes for this population. Upon completion of the week-long program, participants apply the knowledge they gain via a Capstone Project—a reform agenda they implement in their organization/ community to make a positive impact on the lives of crossover youth. In order to enhance the possibility of implementing cross systems change after returning from the program, applicants from the same jurisdiction are encouraged to apply as “mini-teams.”
- Certificate Program for Public Sector Leaders
July 6-13, 2012 (applications due by March 22, 2012)
October 10-17, 2012 (priority application deadline is March 22, 2012)
- Certificate Program for Private Sector Leaders
November 7-14, 2012 (applications due by July 17, 2012)
For more information and to apply, please click here or email CJJR
Interesting article in Advertising Age about health insurance providers and a stronger link to consumers. Pay attention folks, consumer voice will be bigger than ever with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the use of mobile devices and apps will lead the way. This is a trend worth tracking for those of us who are focused on improving the array of funded services and supports for young people with mental health challenges and their families.
From the article in Advertising Age...
The affordable care act that President Obama signed into law in 2010 slated for full implementation in 2014 is forcing health-insurance companies outside their comfort zone of business-to-business marketing. For consumers, the law guarantees health insurance and more power to choose and switch plans. For health insurers, it means heightened competition, an opportunity to tap 50 million uninsured people, and a three-year window to implement bigger budgets to develop more direct-to-consumer efforts.
"The insurance industry, as is typical to a bureaucratic industry, is probably two to three years behind the curve [on DTC marketing], but there's a lot of quick pickup by companies," said Lindsay Resnick, CMO of KBM Group Health Services, a WPP direct-marketing shop.
This "quick pickup" is causing the industry to replace its agent-driven model with a consumer-facing strategy led by direct-marketing teams, Mr. Resnick said. And these marketing teams will work to gain consumer support when the law creates, among other things, insurance exchanges. Mr. Resnick likened the state-run e-commerce platforms for health-insurance plans to travel sites that compile deals and packages.
To stand out in what will likely be a crowded environment, companies are building private exchanges and retail outlets. And insurers such as Aetna, which recently rebranded itself as a "health-solutions company," are aggressively working to differentiate their corporate brands.
Read the full article here.
HHS announced yesterday that people in the market for health insurance will soon have clear, understandable and straightforward information on what health plans will cover, what limitations or conditions will apply, and what they will pay for services thanks to the Affordable Care Act. This is important news for Children's Mental Health Network followers. Imagine a health benefits plan that provides concise and comprehensible information about mental health plan benefits and coverage! The new rules will also make it easier for people and employers to directly compare one plan to another.
From the HHS press release
- “All consumers, for the first time, will really be able to clearly comprehend the sometimes confusing language insurance plans often use in marketing,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “This will give them a new edge in deciding which plan will best suit their needs and those of their families or employees.”
Under the rule announced today, health insurers must provide consumers with clear, consistent and comparable summary information about their health plan benefits and coverage. The new explanations, which will be available beginning, or soon after, September 23, 2012 will be a critical resource for the roughly 150 million Americans with private health insurance today.
Specifically, these rules will ensure consumers have access to two key documents that will help them understand and evaluate their health insurance choices. The first is a short, easy-to-understand Summary of Benefits and Coverage ( or “SBC”); and a uniform glossary of terms commonly used in health insurance coverage, such as “deductible” and “co-payment.”
All health plans and insurers will provide an SBC to shoppers and enrollees at important points in the enrollment process, such as upon application and at renewal.
A key feature of the SBC is a new, standardized plan comparison tool called “coverage examples,” similar to the Nutrition Facts label required for packaged foods. The coverage examples will illustrate sample medical situations and describe how much coverage the plan would provide in an event such as having a baby (normal delivery) or managing Type II diabetes (routine maintenance, well-controlled) These examples will help consumers understand and compare what they would have to pay under each plan they are considering.
Why this development is important to the Children's Mental Health Network
This is just one of example of how the structure of the Affordable Care Act provides a great opportunity for education about the type of mental health services and supports that we know work for youth and families. But structure is not enough - those who make decisions about what gets funded need to better understand and support the inclusion of a wide array of mental health benefits and an expanded work force to carry them out.
It's hard to believe that SAMHSA has turned 20! To recognize the progress in prevention, treatment and recovery, SAMHSA wants to highlight the important milestones that have occurred in behavioral health over the past 20 years. SAMHSA is asking for your help!
- What do you think are some of the most noteworthy accomplishments and changes over the past several years? Your comments and suggestions will be used to help plan a celebration of behavioral health accomplishments over the next year. Suggestions might include groundbreaking studies, promising practices, important legislation/court decisions, and/or other great strides made by our field.
This forum will close Monday, March 5 at 9:00 a.m. EST. so send your comments in soon. Click here to include your comments.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy (BRSS TACS) is accepting applications for 2012 BRSS TACS State Peer Awards for Health Care Reform Education. BRSS TACS is operated by contract with The Center for Social Innovation.
The purpose of the BRSS TACS State Peer Awards for Health Care Reform Education is to enable peer-run organizations in the 29 States with HHS Health Insurance Exchange Establishment Grants (see Appendix 1) to undertake outreach and dissemination efforts to educate people in recovery from behavioral health conditions (i.e., mental health and/or substance use disorders) and service providers about health care reform initiated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010. Health Insurance Exchanges (or “Affordable Insurance Exchanges”) will provide individuals and small businesses with a “one-stop shop” to find and compare affordable, quality health insurance options. Health Insurance Exchange Establishment Grants help States continue their work to implement this key provision of the Affordable Care Act.
This Request for Applications (RFA) invites peer-run organizations/recovery community organizations in States with Establishment Grants to propose activities that develop learning networks that build the capacity of peer organizations to increase public awareness about ACA programs, understand the services offered through the Affordable Insurance Exchanges and the Medicaid benchmark plan, begin to develop strategies for providing outreach and enrollment assistance, and readiness to participate in Exchange Navigator programs.
Education activities undertaken by awardees must be tailored to specific audiences and address changes in services, eligibility, and enrollment prompted by health care reform. Successful applicants will receive subcontract awards in the amount of $25,000 from the Center for Social Innovation. SAMHSA intends to fund eight BRSS TACS State Peer Awards for Health Care Reform Education in 2012.
Technical assistance (TA) and training will be provided to grantees, and will include information about coverage of mental health and substance use disorder (MH/SUD) services in the Affordable Insurance Exchange and the Medicaid program, changes in eligibility criteria and enrollment procedures, and facilitation of contacts with key individuals in grantee’s State Medicaid, CHIP, Affordable Insurance Exchange, Department of Insurance, and other key State agency and other programs. Ongoing TA will include consultation sessions, training, webinars, and an online learning community to support organizations as they implement their projects throughout the award period
Information about the BRSS TACS State Peer Awards for Health Care Reform Education application, expectations of awardees, and activities, may be found here
Questions about the Request for Application (RFA) must be submitted by February 24, 2012 to Rebecca Stouff, by electronic mail to rstouff@center4si.com, or by U.S. mail to Rebecca Stouff, Center for Social Innovation, 200 Reservoir Street, Suite 202, Needham, MA 02494.
Questions about BRSS TACS may be directed to the SAMHSA Project Officers, Catherine Nugent, at cathy.nugent@samhsa.hhs.gov or 240-276-1577 or Kevin Malone at kevin.malone@samhsa.hhs.gov or 240.276.2239.
The Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured has updated its Medicaid Benefits Online Database to include 2010 state-level data about which benefits are covered by Medicaid programs in the 50 states, the District of Columbia and United States territories. The online tool contains Medicaid benefits data for adults covered under fee-for-service, with information about benefits covered, limits, co-payments and reimbursement methodologies. Other years for which data are available include 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2008. The tool allows users to pull up detailed profiles of which benefits are covered in a given state’s Medicaid program, and also to see how a particular benefit is covered across all states. Categories of acute care benefits tracked in the database include institutional and clinic services, practitioner services, prescription drugs, physical therapy and other services, and transportation services. In long-term care, the database tracks community-based care and institutional care.
The database is free and available online.
The National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health is gearing up for an exciting Children's Mental Health Awareness Week, May 6 - 12, 2012. This year, they are partnering with the Child Mind Institute’s Speak Up for Kids to provide another way that you can celebrate National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week.
Here is the message from Sandra Spencer, Executive Director, to the membership of the National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health.
- More than 15 million children have a psychiatric or learning disorder in the United States alone. Less than half of them will ever get help. Speak Up for Kids can help.
- This year during Awareness Week, we encourage you to participate in Speak Up for Kids, a free nationwide campaign to spread the word about the signs and symptoms of psychiatric and learning disorders in children and teens. During Awareness Week (May 6-12, 2012), Speak Up for Kids connects parents and educators with local child and adolescent psychiatrists and other mental health professionals in communities across the nation, who will share their knowledge and the message that early diagnosis and treatment are key to success in school, with friends, and at home.
- Sign up today to host a Speak Up for Kids talk in your community! This is a great opportunity to provide parents and educators with important information and resources that can help impact the lives of children and families in your community. The Child Mind Institute has developed a "Speak Up for Kids Toolkit" with all of the materials necessary to help plan and promote a successful Speak Up for Kids talk, and can help pair your organization with local mental health professionals who can give the talk. We are also working with the Child Mind Institute to develop some advocacy tools that you can distribute to parents and educators who attend your talk to encourage them to get involved.
- Visit childmind.org/speakupforkids for information about Speak Up for Kids and to preview the resources available to help plan your Speak Up for Kids talk. Contact Malorie Schecter, Public Education Manager, with any questions at all (malorie.schecter@childmind.org).
- Partners in the Child Mind Institute's Speak Up for Kids include the National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), Parents magazine, Hunter Boot, The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA), and many others.
