Report

Direct care workers (DCWs) such as nursing assistants, home health aides, and personal care assistants play an essential role in the health and well-being of over 20 million Americans. Yet DCW wages are not enough to make jobs competitive with entry level positions in other industries with similar job requirements which exacerbates the challenges in recruitment and retention of these workers.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center is in the process of developing the Medicare $2 Drug List (M2DL) Model. This would allow Part D plan sponsors to offer a standardized list of generic drugs for a copayment of $2 or less for a month’s supply that would not be subject to prior authorization, quantity limits, or other utilization management restrictions.

Individuals returning to the community from prisons and jails face numerous barriers to reentry, and securing safe, stable housing is often the most immediate challenge. Housing is a vital element of successful reentry.

The recent designation of the three-digit “988” dialing code is intended to improve public awareness of an immediate means to behavioral health crisis services, resulting in both a diversion of behavioral health calls from 911 as well as increased utilization of call services among people in crisis who are not currently getting help.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has recently developed guidelines for establishing a comprehensive crisis response system for behavioral health. Per these guidelines, a comprehensive system should provide individuals in crisis with “someone to call,” “someone to respond,” and “a place to go” to receive crisis response services.

Inpatient psychiatric facilities (IPFs) stabilize patients in a mental health crisis and provide services to patients with serious mental illnesses and those who may cause harm to themselves or others, including people living with dementia who have severe behavioral and psychological symptoms.

Recovery support services (RSS) are non-clinical services that assist individuals and families in attaining and sustaining recovery from substance use disorders.

People with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders (SUDs) benefit from integrated treatment to address both disorders concurrently. For several decades, policymakers and behavioral health systems have worked to overcome the historical separation between mental health and SUD treatment to improve care for people with co-occurring disorders.

Health Information Technology (HIT) was identified as a critical component of the HHS Roadmap for Behavioral Health Integration. To support the implementation of the Roadmap, an ASPE study was conducted to provide an overview of HIT adoption and utilization among behavioral health providers.

Insufficient access to behavioral health (BH) care and the inability to get timely care are significant problems in the United States. Concerns about BH network adequacy have been prompted by evidence of narrow networks for BH, variation in network adequacy across plans, and evidence that network adequacy impacts access to certain specialties.