Archive for the ‘Substance Use Disorders’ Category

Engaging Patients at Critical Moments is Key to Improving Behavioral Health Outcomes

Massachusetts is home to thousands of individuals with behavioral health needs who lack access to quality care. In fact, according to recent estimates, only 54 percent of adults with mental illness in Massachusetts receive any kind of mental or behavioral health treatment (SAMHSA, Behavioral Health...

Co-Occurring System of Care Committees (COSOCCs): An Innovative Regional Approach to Integrated Care

The integration of care for individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders continues to elude our healthcare and social service systems despite a nearly universal acknowledgment of its importance, both to the individuals afflicted with these conditions and the viability of...

CBHS IPA Secures Funding for Lower Hudson Valley Adults

Coordinated Behavioral Health Services (CBHS) Independent Practice Association (IPA) is pleased to announce it has been awarded $4.7 million in infrastructure funds to finance the enhancement of Behavioral Health Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) available in the Hudson Valley. HCBS...

Enhanced CRPA and CHW Training and Workforce Transformation

The Certified Recovery Peer Advocate (CRPA) and Community Health Worker (CHW) are two emerging workforce roles in health care. A CRPA is a person who uses lived experience with substance use disorder (SUD) and who have been certified to provide peer support services including non-clinical coaching,...

Staff Development at the Mental Health Association of Westchester

In recent editions of Behavioral Health News, we have written of sweeping transformations in services offered at The Mental Health Association of Westchester (MHA). These transformations require critical staff development - learning new skills and new processes of working. To manage these changes,...

Peers: An Essential Component to the Behavioral Health Workforce

What makes a well-rounded behavioral health workforce who can deliver innovative, person-centered services that can affect change for the better? For Federation, the answer is Peer Specialists. Peers have become an integral part of the behavioral health workforce and Federation has been a pioneer...

Mental Health Parity and Its Impact on the Behavioral Health Workforce

In 2006, New York enacted a parity mandate in the form of Timothy’s Law, which requires group health plans to provide 30 inpatient days and 20 outpatient days for most mental health diagnoses and requires large plans to provide full coverage for certain biologically based illnesses. Several years...

New Management Services Organization Established to Support NY Community Behavioral Health Providers

Coordinated Behavioral Care (CBC) and Coordinated Behavioral Health Services (CBHS) announced today their joint formation of a Management Services Organization (MSO), Innovative Management Solutions NY (IMSNY) to support New York State’s Behavioral Health provider community. IMS’s initial...

New Mental Health Parity Laws in New York State

About one in five New Yorkers require behavioral health services, but many do not receive treatment because of a lack of access to insurance coverage. More than 10 years ago, the federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act required large group health plans that provide mental health...

Addressing the Urgent Treatment and Housing Needs of Older Adults

In the midst of a devastating opioid epidemic, much of the attention has focused on the impact on younger populations, but there is another group struggling with substance use disorders: senior citizens. As baby boomers head towards their senior years, the number of older Americans with substance...