January 7, 2010

Behavioral Health Advocates Make Great Strides in 2009; Continued Efforts Needed in 2010!

House and Senate Begin Final Negotiations on Healthcare Reform

CMS Releases Criteria on “Meaningful Use” of Electronic Health Records

Save the Date for the National Council’s 6th Annual Hill Day: June 29-30, 2010

Behavioral Health Advocates Make Great Strides in 2009; Continued Efforts Needed in 2010!

All of us at the National Council want to take this opportunity to wish you a happy New Year and extend a tremendous thank you for all of your advocacy efforts.  We have much to be proud of: the historic passage of the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act that set the stage for mandating mental health and addiction benefits within healthcare reform and the requirement that they be offered at parity; an increase in appropriations for SAMHSA’s co-location of primary care and behavioral health services grant program; and the withdrawal of the controversial Medicaid rehabilitative services rule proposed by the previous Administration.  Yet, as we look forward to 2010, we know that much more work lies ahead as national healthcare reform nears reality and the demands on community behavioral healthcare organizations grow. 

We’ll do our part. But, we can’t be successful in 2010 without you. We ask that you start out 2010 on the positive note by doing the following:

• Forward this message to at least 3 other people in the behavioral health field and encourage them to sign up to receive our Action Alerts and our weekly public policy e-newsletter, the Public Policy Update.
• Make plans to attend the National Council’s Annual Hill Day – June 29 & 30 in Washington, DC.  Hill Day provides you with the latest information on health reform and other critical mental health and substance use issues so that you can be the most effective advocate you can be. We also need you to help make a real, visible impact on your Members of Congress as they move forward.
• If you haven’t done so already, complete a brief online survey about your agency’s construction needs in 2010. We recognize that many of your agencies would like to renovate or expand your facilities but are unable to get the funds to do so – we need to quantify your needs in order to advocate for infrastructure funds in 2010.

House and Senate Begin Final Negotiations on Healthcare Reform

Democratic leaders in the House and Senate have begun their last round of negotiations on healthcare reform, with the intent of sending a final bill to President Obama before his State of the Union address in late Jan. or early Feb.  To expedite passage of the legislation, Congressional leaders have agreed to bypass a formal conference committee process.  Instead, the House will take up the Senate’s version of the bill, amend it with an agreed-upon package of changes, and send the bill back to the Senate for final approval.  No details are currently available on how the negotiations are progressing, but many differences between the bills must be resolved, including the level of subsidies available to low- and moderate-income families to purchase health insurance and the question of how the bill will be paid for. 

To see the National Council’s health care reform chart, which compares the bills passed by the House and Senate, click here. For further updates, join us for the next in our Healthcare Reform Update webinar series on Jan. 13 at 2pm EST.  Registration is available on our website.


CMS Releases Criteria on “Meaningful Use” of Electronic Health Records

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released its proposed criteria for establishing “meaningful use” of electronic health records, as required in order to receive incentive payments under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  The criteria will be published in the Federal Register on Jan. 13, 2010, and CMS will be accepting public comments for 60 days after the date of publication.  However, the criteria will actually go into effect 30 days after publication.  The National Council will be analyzing and submitting comments on the proposed criteria.  Stay tuned to future issues of the Public Policy Update for more information.


Save the Date for the National Council’s 6th Annual Hill Day: June 29-30, 2010
 
Make your voice heard on Capitol Hill!  Join us for the National Council's 6th Annual Hill Day on June 29-30th, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency.  The Hyatt is located right on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. You can book your hotel room at a rate of $239/night by calling the hotel: 202-737-1234 and mentioning the National Council room block.  Registration for Hill Day will begin later this month.  Stay tuned to the Public Policy Update and the Hill Day 2010 page of our website for further updates, including a link to the registration tool when it becomes available, a schedule of events, speakers, and much more!