2020 CONSUMER RESOURCE GUIDE: HOW TO ACCESS MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER BENEFITS

(4/24/2020): New Futures and the UNH Law-Institute for Health Policy and Practice have released a 2020 Consumer Resource Guide on How to Access Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Benefits. The purpose of the Guide is to help individuals and families access needed treatment services. 

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE RESOURCE GUIDE FOR CONSUMERS

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE QUICK GUIDE FOR CONSUMERS

Getting help in a time of need can seem overwhelming. To help individuals and families obtain needed care, the Guide provides detailed information on how to navigate health insurance coverage for mental health and substance use disorders. Specifically, it addresses mental health parity and how to find treatment, enroll in health insurance, make sure treatment services are covered, and appeal when coverage is denied. It is updated and enhanced to reflect consumer feedback and changes in law and practice, and now includes information about New Hampshire's Medicaid Managed Care Organizations, the Doorways, and other resources, as well as a more detailed section intended to assist providers in helping their clients and patients.

 2020 Quick Guide for MH SUD Consumers.pdf

 2020 Resource Guide for MH SUD Consumers-compressed.pdf

Individuals experiencing addiction are a vulnerable population that have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Physical distancing protocols have separated patients from their clinicians, made medications to treat addiction much more challenging to obtain, and shuttered many long-term recovery groups. 

A new webinar series from the NAM and the American Society of Addiction Medicine will provide insight and targeted guidance on how to ensure that these individuals are cared for and protected during this ongoing public health crisis. 

The first webinar in this series will focus on how to ensure that patients remain connected to and engaged in addiction treatment during the pandemic, and provide practical approaches to ensuring continuity of care. 

The webinar will feature a panel of expert speakers, including:

·  Kelly Clark, MD, MBA, DFAPA, DFASAM (Moderator) - Immediate Past President, American Society of Addiction Medicine

·  Brian Hurley, MD, MBA - Director of Addiction Medicine, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services

·  Chris Bundy, MD, MPH - Executive Medical Director, Washington Physicians Health Program

·  Cortney Lovell - Recovery Coach and Co-Founder, Our Wellness Collective

Speaker presentations will be followed by a Q&A session with the webinar audience. 

AMA Credit Designation Statement
The American Society of Addiction Medicine designates this internet live course for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
 
ACCME Accreditation Statement
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the essential areas and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education through the joint providership of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and National Academy of Medicine. The American Society of Addiction Medicine is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

To register:  https://nasem.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6wTYB-JbROus2sx9j4OWyA

Please see below for a IC&RC testing update from Prometric:

Prometric is scheduled to resume IC&RC testing for essential services programs in U.S. and Canada test centers effective May 1st, where we are able to do so.

With modified test center resumption starting this week, we want to provide you with updates on where we are likely to open for programs able to test, as well as how we will work to communicate out to all candidates who are impacted. Below is a high-level overview of these initiatives:

• On May 1st, Prometric plans to resume testing in several markets worldwide for essential services. Please click here for the most up-to-date list of markets where we are looking to resume testing, based on governmental clearance and other market factors. This is subject to change daily. Some global markets listed here are already open. We will give a more detailed update into which centers are scheduled to open in these markets later this week.
  
  
• All candidates who will not be able to test as a result of social distancing policies through May and June are being notified this week via email. Where applicable, candidates will be able to self serve online, or will have their appointments rescheduled or canceled, based on program requirements.
  
  
• Essential candidates who will be testing in May will receive an email reminder with social distancing guidelines and procedures three days prior to test day; and then a follow-up phone call one day prior. Please click here for a copy of this communication.

Colleagues and Friends,

Please help us all better understand changes in substance use patterns in New Hampshire during COVID 19 by completing this brief (< 3 minute) survey. http://hitchcock.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3Erb6tjiJFoSDhX

There have been many recent reports of changes in drug availability, use patterns, treatment seeking, overdoses, and other drug related variables in NH during the COVID 19 pandemic, but reports have been somewhat inconsistent. This survey intends to gather and examine the observations of diverse stakeholders in order to better characterize these changes, integrate them with other lines of evidence, and help inform appropriate public health responses. Survey results will be disseminated to respondents who provide an email address at the end of the survey and they will be posted at the DH Substance Use and Mental Health Initiative website. 

Feel free to circulate the survey link to others who are in a position to observe drug use patterns in NH, including professionals, community members, people who use drugs, and others.  Survey input will close midnight Monday, April 27^th.  Advance apologies for any duplicated emails you may receive.  

Questions  may be directed to Seddon.savage@dartmouth.edu.

Thank you for sharing your observations!

The D-H Substance Use & Mental Health Initiative SUD-COVID-19 Survey Team Luke Archibald, Charlie Brackett, Sally Kraft, Seddon Savage, Ariel Pike, Laura Fineberg

SUMHI envisions a health care system where mental health & substance use disorders are treated with the same urgency, respect and seriousness of purpose as other illnesses and where discrimination does not occur.  

https://med.dartmouth-hitchcock.org/sumhi.html

Education & Clinical Practice Resources to Improve Care of Substance Use & Mental Health

Prometric, the IC&RC testing organization, plans to resume in-center testing operations in our US locations where we are able to do so in compliance with governmental directives or regulations, effective May 1st. In the current environment, our operational readiness steps include the introduction of several new or enhanced processes designed to safeguard the health and well-being of everyone at the center, including your test takers and the staff serving them.

One such procedural change required is the reduction of active workstations in the testing room, to conform with government-mandated social distancing standards. This will ensure proper distance is maintained between each individual during test administration. It will also effectively reduce the capacity at each location by at least 50%, and will require Prometric to displace scheduled candidates on select workstations in order to be able to preserve the remaining testing appointments. We understand the impact that this will have on those test takers and are committed to testing them as soon as possible, including looking to expand capacity through increased test center hours and days of operation. The following is additional information for you:  

·         Prometric will inform impacted candidates early next week of the need to cancel their existing appointment as the result of implementing social distancing preventative measures (attached here).

·         The date range of the appointments that will be impacted runs from May 1^st through June 30th. 

·         After the candidate notification has been sent, we will begin processing the cancellations and reschedules (program depending) in the scheduling system. Cancellations and reschedules will be prioritized by appointment date.

·         For test takers scheduling new appointments for dates from July 1 onward, the available capacity will appear to be the same 50% that's imposed during the social distancing period. Out of an abundance of caution, we will hold off on displacing these candidates for now, but we will continue to monitor the situation and keep you informed should that become necessary.

·         Every 30 days, Prometric leadership will review current conditions and will determine if an extension of the social distancing measures are necessary. If that decision is made, we will inform you of further candidate displacements and will inform candidates of their cancelled appointments.

·         For test takers who will be testing during this time, Prometric will reconfirm their appointment and send clients and candidates a list of social distancing and safety guidelines that candidates will have to follow while in the test center. More details to come as we finalize this communication and have a better understanding of where we are equipped to open on May 1st.

IC&RC and Prometric thank you for your patience, understanding and support as they strive to re-establish safe and reliable testing operations.

Next week, in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has compromised parts of NH's substance use and mental health treatment systems, New Futures and the UNH Law-Institute for Health Policy and Practice are releasing our 2020 Consumer Resource Guide on How to Access Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Benefits.

Can you join us next Friday, April 24th at 12pm for a webinar to review the Guide and discuss how it can help individuals and families access needed treatment services? Specifically, representatives from New Futures, UNH Law/IHPP, and the NH Insurance Department will talk about mental health parity and cover how to find treatment, enroll in health insurance, make sure treatment services are covered, and appeal when coverage is denied.

Please RSVP here.

With the COVID-19 pandemic raging, it’s more important than ever that Granite Staters have immediate and direct access to the substance use and mental health treatment services they need. Getting help in a time of need can seem overwhelming, especially during a public health crisis like this. To help consumers obtain needed care, the Guide provides detailed information on how to navigate health insurance coverage for mental health and substance use disorders. It is updated and enhanced to reflect consumer feedback and changes in law and practice, and now includes information about New Hampshire's Medicaid Managed Care Organizations, the Doorways, and other resources, as well as a more detailed section intended to assist providers in helping their clients and patients.

We look forward to discussing the Guide further with you on Friday's webinar.

Take Care,

New Futures

Granite State College recently validated the NH CRSW certification, which means that anyone who holds this certification can receive two credits at Granite State College toward their degree associate’s or bachelor’s degree.

Granite State College is also offering a fully virtual professional development session on the topic of leadership and management this May and June exclusively to audiences across the region working within assessment, recovery, and treatment organizations serving those with addictions / substance use disorders.

For more information contact Granite State College, Rachael.French@granite.edu

An update from NHADACA, 

Please be mindful of your self care needs.  Ask for help when you need it, and even when you don't need it.   If you need connection or understanding, we are here for you.  Remember to take extra breaks, stretch and get fresh air.  Use the tools you teach your clients.  Find inspiration, laugh and cry when needed and turn to each other and to us.  You are not alone.  We are here for you...

Our staff are all working remotely, however we are still accessing our phone system, emails and mail.  We are doing our best to make sure we are safe, our trainers are safe and our participants and friends are also safe in their attempts to meet their professional development needs.   We post different articles and information on our announcement page.  Check it out for updates.

At the end of  February we had 52 trainings planned to occur between March 1-June 30, 2020.  By mid-March we were shifting gears and scrambling to adapt the training offerings to a remote platform.  That necessitated contacting every trainer and helping them discern either offering the training electronically or cancelling.  Trainings were cancelled when the content required interaction that could not be adapted to an electronic format.  Out of 52 trainings, 25 events were cancelled, and one was modified then rescheduled.  We are sorry to all you that experienced a cancelled training, if you have not done so, you are able to request a refund or request that your payment be saved as a credit on file that can be applied to any other event over the next 12 months.

In order to support your credentialing and professional development needs, we  held 9 trainings in March, four of which were in-person in groups smaller than 50, and 5 of which were held remotely.  March 14 was the last in-person training.  March 19, 2020 was our first remote training.   We are now beginning to add other trainings back into the calendar for June and later, but by remote format only. 

We currently have 8 trainings scheduled for April (one of which is a 3-day training), 4 trainings in May; and 5 trainings in June.  We are hoping to add several short trainings in by the end of June.  Because these trainings are live and interactive, we have been assured that the LADC Board will accept them as in-person events.

We also have approximately 40 webinars available online.   The topics include ethics, suicide prevention and 7 of the 12 core functions among many others.  They are also an effective means of gaining the topics you need for certification, licensure and renewal of credentials.

We are also hosting an open peer collaboration group.  We meet the third Thursday from 9:30 am to 11:45 am.  Beginning in April (April 16th), we will be hosting this over Zoom as well.  Also, because Peer Collaboration requires small groups of 8 people or less, if more than 8 people sign in, we will use the break-our room feature in Zoom to keep the discussions to the appropriate size.  Attendance is tricker in this format, however Zoom tracks who logs on as well as when that person logs on.  This feature can help us verify attendance if you log on with your full name and credentials after your last name.  When it is time to renew your credential, the LADC Board will need your signature and well as that of other participants (we still need to solve that challenge, but I hope it can be done by mail or in-person when the social distancing needs are subsided).  Here is the Zoom invitiation:  When: Apr 16, 2020 09:30 AM ET.  Sign in with your full name and credentials:  https://zoom.us/meeting/register/uJUqcOuqrjMq-dTR71EsMNgMd-Uxe5U9DA After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Thank you for your support.  You have our support and gratitude as well.

Sincerely,

Dianne

Brought to you by your NHADACA Ethics Committee

Put the "We" In Wellness During COVID-19:

Wellness Tips to Help You Care for Your Patients and Yourself

As the world continues to adjust to the "new normal" during COVID-19, everyone is working diligently every day to overcome challenges personally and professionally.  Click on this link to select video clips from experts on applying resilience coping for ourselves as providers and helpers and with the people who are seeking our help.  We are truly in this together!

https://www.psychcongress.com/psych-topics/coping-during-covid-19?utm_campaign=Elevate%202020&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=86026065&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9NF5lnltIjd7xLCYpr4QTbeRl0m9JXCBPMLD5ogzo1T2yKXwA91JuuCYKyeFOmXLRM1wU7ijnzgbGa1-gAPaX1GSAoLw&_hsmi

Brought to you by your NHADACA Ethics Committee

Emerging Evidence on COVID-19 Spread and Treatment - Free NAM-APHA Webinar

This is the third FREE COVID-19 Conversations webinar organized and presented by the National Academy of Medicine.

During this April 9 webinar, emerging evidence and promising treatment modalities for COVID-19 will be reviewed, including ethical implications and considerations for treating those who are ill with therapeutics approved via an emergency use authorization.  This presentation is designed for the Primary Care treatment setting.   https://covid19conversations.org/webinar-registration