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The Great Accelerant: COVID-19 and the Social Determinants of Behavioral Health
The effects from the COVID-19 pandemic are intensifying the wave of transition sweeping across health and behavioral health care. In the pandemic’s wake is accentuating our social inequalities and health disparities, from race and social justice, workforce inequality, to the influence of social...
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Care Transitions: A Critical Time to Prevent Suicides
The transition from inpatient psychiatric care to outpatient behavioral health treatment is fraught with elevated risk for people with histories of suicidality. According to the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention (Action Alliance), suicide rates are 300 times higher for individuals...
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Surviving the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Behavioral Health Effects of Social Distancing and the Social Safety Net
In communities across the United States, social distancing measures are in place to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. This is necessary to flatten the curve for Coronavirus infection rates and not overburden our healthcare system as there is no effective treatment or a vaccine on the horizon....
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Housing as an Innovative Solution in Medicaid Redesign
As state leaders and stakeholders look to contain spending growth in New York’s Medicaid program, one proven way to a more cost-effective care system with better outcomes, is through supportive housing services for high-cost Medicaid recipients. Housing and health are deeply interconnected....
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Opioid Epidemic and Partnerships: Working Together to Solve Problems
It feels like not a day goes by where the sheer scale of the opioid epidemic is not felt. The epidemic impacts nearly every American through our families, friends, loved ones, co-workers and classmates. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), in 2017: On average, 130 Americans died...
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Integration: A History of Promise
The healthcare system is moving towards integration. However, the passageways for integrating behavioral health with primary care are not so simple or straightforward. Whether one pursues full integration, colocation, or a digitally advanced referral network, providers and health plans are seeking...
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System Change and Service Providers: Opportunities and Challenges in Addressing Unmet Needs
In 2011, a priority of New York’s Governor Andrew M. Cuomo was Medicaid redesign, with the substantive presence of behavioral health services in both the Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) and the subsequent Delivery System Reform Incentive Program (DSRIP). The focus was to reduce inpatient...
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The Behavioral Health Community Today: Change, Challenge and Opportunity
Over the last several years, the community behavioral health landscape has changed. New York State is driving reforms toward achieving the Triple Aim for better care and improved health at lower costs. In doing so, the community-based behavioral health sector has been charged with undergoing...
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Innovation into Practice: The Future is Now
Innovators and experienced providers are joining together to build the infrastructure required to meet the needs of people living with co-occurring mental health conditions and substance use disorders, as well as physical health care conditions. They are facilitating networks to address social...
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When Government Looks for Healthcare Savings, Supportive Housing Has the Answer
These days, it seems that on all levels of government, healthcare programs are being reexamined for cost savings, efficiencies and better outcomes. Nationally, healthcare reform and the Affordable Care Act will provide new opportunities to serve the most vulnerable populations and perhaps bend the...
