Policy

The Bipartisan Addiction and Mental Health Task Force, which combines the Freshmen Working Group on Addiction and the Bipartisan Opioid Task Force, plans to release a 2021 legislative agenda that will address both the addiction and mental health crises in the U.S., which have been exacerbated by the pandemic.

The goal of the 10 EPHS is to promote equity in health status, service access and care outcomes in a community. Applied to community behavioral health and I/DD services, this framework could give us a common yardstick to apply across different communities to assess quality and promote needed improvements in care and equity.

The bill, first proposed in 2019, would eliminate the requirement that practitioners obtain a separate “X-waiver” through DEA to prescribe buprenorphine for treating substance use disorders.

In a letter to President Joe Biden this week signed by its CEO, Marvin Ventrell, NAATP shared a wide-ranging series of recommendations for improving SUD treatment and healthcare in general, and also voiced support for restoring the role of ONDCP director to cabinet-level status.

A U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled, 2-1, that Philadelphia not-for-profit Safehouse would be in violation of federal law if it were to open a supervised injection facility.

Former Vice President Joe Biden appears to have won the presidential election, but behavioral healthcare leaders say significant changes for the field could depend on the results of still-undecided Senate races.

Former U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad of Minnesota, a longtime advocate for addiction treatment and parity, is credited as a driving force behind the passage of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act.

The establishment of an emergency line specifically for mental health crises and the introduction of legislation that would put emergency responses to such situations in the hands of behavioral health professionals instead of law enforcement are among the efforts to reshape our crisis response.

Preventing and addressing adverse childhood experiences, creating recovery-friendly workplaces, and being adaptable to meet the challenges presented by COVID-19 were among the topics discussed at a recent National Council on Behavioral Health event.

The California Department of Health Care Services has announced that $20 million in funding will be awarded to two-thirds of hospitals in the state to provide opioid and substance use disorder treatment services.