April 25th, 2011
This past Tuesday April 19, 2011 in their continued fight to combating America’s prescription drug epidemic, the Obama Administration held a press conference announcing a new national framework laying out steps to fight abuse, educate communities and reduce the prevalence of pill mills. Director Kerlikowske of the President’s Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) announced the new program entitled Epidemic: Responding to America’s Prescription Drug Crisis. According to the ONDCP press release the new program will address several key areas including: “supporting the expansion of state-based prescription drug monitoring programs, recommending more convenient and environmentally responsible disposal methods to remove unused medications from the home, supporting education for patients and healthcare providers, and reducing the prevalence of pill mills and doctor shopping through enforcement efforts”. For more information on the ONDCP’s new program to fight America’s Prescription drug epidemic you can access additional resources at the ONDCP web site:
HAVE A GREAT WEEK!
Cheri L. Walter
Chief Executive Officer
Posted in CEO Minutes |
April 21st, 2011
Today, the Obama Administration released its comprehensive action plan to address the national prescription drug abuse epidemic. The Administration’s Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Plan, entitled, “Epidemic: Responding to America’s Prescription Drug Abuse Crisis,” provides a national framework for reducing prescription drug diversion and abuse by supporting the expansion of state-based prescription drug monitoring programs; recommending secure, more convenient, and environmentally responsible disposal methods to remove expired, unused, or unneeded medications from the home; supporting education for patients and healthcare providers; and reducing the prevalence of pill mills and doctor shopping through enforcement efforts. For more information, click here.
Tags: dispose, Drug abuse, Obama, President, Rx, Rx Abuse
Posted in Publications, Up to the Minute |
April 21st, 2011
Unfortunately, Ohio was not one of the 15 states selected to receive up to $1 million each from the federal government to develop new ways to meet the often complex and costly medical needs of Americans who are eligible for both the Medicare and Medicaid programs to coordinate primary, acute, behavioral and long-term supports and services, and to improve quality while lowering costs. Ohio’s Office of Health Transformation has stated they intend to move forward to develop strategies for dual eligibles even in the absence of the planning grant.
Tags: HHS, medicaid, medicare, Ohio looses, Other states
Posted in Publications, Up to the Minute |
April 21st, 2011
CMS proposed new rules today which they describe as giving states new flexibility for their programs to help people with disabilities choose to live in their communities rather than in institutions. The proposed rules reduce administrative barriers for states seeking to help multiple populations, which may include seniors and/or people with different types of disabilities. They will also allow individuals to participate in the design of their own array of services and supports, including such things as personal care and respite services for caregivers. The proposed rule, CMS-2296-P, can be found at http://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2011/04/15/2011-9116/medicaid-program-home-and-community-based-services-hcbs-waivers.
Tags: CMS, disabilities, Federal Rule
Posted in Publications, Up to the Minute |
April 21st, 2011
The Ohio Department of Development has released their 2011 Ohio Poverty Report which notes that approximately 1.7 million Ohioans, or about 15 percent of Ohio’s population, are categorized as poor. To learn more about poverty in Ohio and in your community, click here.
Tags: Ohio, Poverty by county
Posted in Up to the Minute |
April 21st, 2011
The Ohio General Assembly has passed House Bill 139 to change the name of the Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy in Rootstown, often referred to as NEOUCOM, to the Northeast Ohio Medical University. NEOUCOM was established in the early 1970s and is a joint effort of the Kent State University, Youngstown State University, the University of Akron and Cleveland State University.
Tags: HB 139, NEOUCOM
Posted in Publications, Up to the Minute |
April 18th, 2011
On Tuesday, April 5th, OACBHA hosted Ohio’s Opiate Epidemic: A Summit on Policy, Prevention, and Treatment for close to 1,000 people in Columbus, Ohio. Throughout the day, participants heard from policy leaders and experts in the field about the scope of the opiate epidemic and current clinical, criminal justice, and prevention activities aimed at addressing the epidemic. The morning general session was recorded by the Ohio Channel and is now available online. Visit http://oacbha.org/programs/opiate-summit-2011/ to find the morning video as well as links to presentations from the event.
Have a great week!
Cheri
Cheri L. Walter
Chief Executive Officer
Posted in CEO Minutes |
April 13th, 2011
The House and Senate reached an agreement late Friday just hours before the government would have shut down for lack of spending authority to cover the remainder of the fiscal year by cutting roughly $38 billion from the federal budget. The agreement would cut $13 billion from programs at the departments of Labor, Education and Health and Human Services. For SAMHSA, this will involve a cut of $45 million below the enacted FY 2010 level. The agreement also includes $1 billion more in an across-the-board cut from domestic agencies. There will also be reductions to housing assistance programs and some health care programs. The budget agreement also takes aim at two provisions of the new health care law. It would cut more than $2 billion set aside for creation of private nonprofit health insurance cooperatives. It also eliminates a program that would have allowed lower-income workers to opt out of employer-sponsored health plans and to use the employers’ contributions to buy coverage on their own through new insurance exchanges. Click here to read more.
Tags: 2 billion, Budget, Federal, SAMHSA
Posted in Publications, Up to the Minute |
April 13th, 2011
The House is sticking to the general schedule outlined previously for the budget and expects to send the $55.5 billion package to the Senate in early May. Public testimony is taking place this week in the House Finance & Appropriations Committee. On Tuesday the testimony subjects are the state corrections system, Department of Commerce, local governments and miscellaneous issues. Today’s hearings will focus on education subjects, Thursday is human services day, and Friday has been set aside for general public testimony. There is no plan for public subcommittee reports prior to the public testimony. The following week is the start of a two-week recess for the General Assembly, however, the Finance Committee will return to work in the final week of April to unveil the substitute version of the bill. The substitute version is scheduled to take place on Thursday, April 28. Further testimony on the new measure will be held on Friday and the following Monday, with plans to vote the bill out of the House during the first week in May. Asked about the potential for any non-tax revenue to be added in the House, Rep. Amstutz said, “I don’t know about that yet.”
Tags: 2012 budget, Amstutz, finance committee, General Assembly, Ohio House
Posted in Budget Alert, Publications, Up to the Minute |
April 13th, 2011
On Tuesday, April 5th, OACBHA hosted Ohio’s Opiate Epidemic: A Summit on Policy, Prevention, and Treatment for close to 1,000 people in Columbus, Ohio. The morning general session was recorded by the Ohio Channel and is now available online. Visit http://oacbha.org/programs/opiate-summit-2011/ to find the morning video as well as links to presentations from the event.
Tags: ohio channel, opiate summit
Posted in Publications, Up to the Minute |
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