Practice Management Insight

May 2012

A report on events affecting Oklahoma providers

May 1 – 31

Mental Health Month

Mental Health America

May 1 – 7

Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week

National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health

May 1

Training of Trainer on RBSS

ODMHSAS Training Center

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May 3 – 5

International Conference on Eating Disorders

Academy for Eating Disorders

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May 4

Art of Effective Case Management

Great Plains Tech Center

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May 5 – 9

165th Annual Meeting

American Psychiatric Association

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May 6 – 9

Annual Meeting

American Hospital Association

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May 7 – 11

RSS Training

OKC

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May 7 – 13

National Stuttering Awareness Week

Stuttering Foundation of America

May 9

National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day

SAMHSA

May 9

Drug Utilization Review Board Meeting

OHCA

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May 10

OHCA Board Meeting

OHCA

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May 10 – 11

Case Mgmt Training

Tulsa

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May 11

NOPIP (NE OK Psychology Internship Program)

Tulsa

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May 12

Cornelia de Lange Syndrome Awareness Day

CdLS-USA Foundation

May 13

Mother’s Day

May 13 – 19

National Alcohol- and Other Drug-Related Birth Defects Awareness Week

National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc.

May 14 – 18

National Neuropathy Awareness Week

The Neuropathy Association

May 15

Perinatal Task Force Meeting

OU Health Sciences Center Campus/Schusterman Campus

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May 15 – 17

Save the Date-19th Annual Children’s BH Conference

Tulsa

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May 15 – 16

Combined ASI/ASAM

Tulsa

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May 16

Nicotine Dependence Treatment Symposium

Lawton

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May 17

Medical Advisory Committee Meeting

OHCA

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May 18

Problem Gambling: The Hidden Addiction

Tulsa

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May 19 – 22

Annual Conference

National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers

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May 21 – 23

37th Annual Conference

US Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association

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May 24 – 25

Case Mgmt Training

OKC

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May 25

ODMHSAS Board Meeting

OKC

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May 28

Memorial Day

May 31

World No Tobacco Day

Pan American Health Organization

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

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The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has launched a website, "Mental Health Care Gets My Vote," to mobilize individuals and families affected by mental illness to participate in the 2012 elections. Goals include grassroots voter registration, get-out-the-vote efforts for the general election, dialogues with candidates, and encouraging people to volunteer on election campaigns, regardless of party.

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NAMI launches 'Mental Health Gets My Vote' website

Addiction Professional, a multichannel brand serving the professional treatment and recovery community, announces the launch of a four-part series featuring two of Marvel’s most popular Super Heroes: Iron Man and Captain America.

Vendome Group has partnered with Marvel Custom Solutions to create a mini series comic strip which debuts in the March/April issue of Addiction Professional.

Iron Man and Captain America will address the dangers of prescription drug misuse, a troubling lack of communication between patients and their doctors, and how a team of specialists can help patients manage pain while reducing the risk of addiction.

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Marvel Super Heroes to appear in Addiction Professional

SAMHSA is accepting applications for up to $35 million in Primary and Behavioral Health Care Integration grants

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is accepting applications for up to $35.78 million in Primary and Behavioral Health Care Integration (PBHCI) grants over the next four years. The purpose of this program is providing for the provision of coordinated and integrated services by co-locating primary and specialty care medical services in community-based mental and behavioral health settings. The goal is to improve the physical health status of adults with serious mental illnesses (SMI) who have or are at risk for co-occurring primary care conditions and chronic diseases. The objective of this program is to: improve the health of those with SMI, enhance the consumer’s experience of care (including quality, access, and reliability), and reduce and control the per capita cost of care.

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Patients with psychiatric emergencies wait an average of 11.5 hours in the emergency department (ED)--42 percent longer than other patients, according to an Annals of Emergency Medicine study published online yesterday.

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Psych patients wait

42% longer in ER

Psychoactive Medication Use Among Children In Foster Care

A national study from PolicyLab at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia describes prescription patterns over time in 48 states. The updated findings show the percentage of children in foster care taking antipsychotics - a class of psychoactive drugs associated with serious side effects for children - continued to climb in the last decade.

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Ahead of the Curb

Advances in health technologies continue at an exponential rate. As these technologies grow in increasing number and mobility, they offer the potential to transform behavioral and substance abuse health care and enable care providers to assess behaviors, attitudes, and the environment more rapidly and accurately. These advances represent worthwhile opportunities to increase access, engagement, reach, and quality of care significantly.

OrionNet Systems is keeping pace with advances in health technologies step by step. ThinkHealth Touch is an example of technology moving in the right direction. ThinkHealth Touch will enable users to utilize ThinkHealth on-the-go.

OrionNet Systems also stays ahead of the curb by staying informed and listening to their clients’ needs.

Although Oklahoma has not required the use of a treatment plan since January, ThinkHealth still employs the use of the treatment plan.

“Other agencies want a treatment plan to gauge how they are doing; it’s their safeguard,” Clyde Wafford, President of OrionNet Systems said. “ThinkHealth still uses the treatment plan, regardless of whether the state implements the use of a treatment plan or not. OrionNet Systems will stay in communication with the state, so agencies won’t be affected by changes in state policies.”

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Starting simple with data exchange

Part 1: Ten states open health information exchanges to behavioral health providers who seek interoperable EHRs.

Computerized exchange of behavioral health information can be complicated by the need to comply with specific confidentiality requirements. Federal law, specifically CFR 42 part 2, requires not only that addiction treatment information be carefully protected, but that individuals have the right to allow or suppress instances of its disclosure. And, state requirements governing mental health and addiction data vary widely.

Yet at the same time, quality care depends on the sharing of such information with physical health providers as well as access by behavioral health providers to information about individuals’ physical or medical problems.

Recently launched federal and state efforts are trying to chip away at the legal and technological hurdles that stand in the way of better integrating and sharing behavioral- and physical health information.

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