Mental Health & Addiction Services Budget SFY 2014-2015

In order to ensure that information on the budget is timely and accessible to all, a new budget section was created on the ODADAS/ODMH Transition website. The website contains a lot of information on the budget including a power point presentation by Director Plouck of ODMH, various white papers from the Office of Health Transformation relative to Medicaid and behavioral health services, and a number of fact sheets and other budget documents related to specific or targeted initiatives.  

Ohio Medicaid Expansion Study: Follow-up of Preliminary Findings Released

The Ohio Medicaid Expansion Study, a partnership between the Health Policy Institute of Ohio, the Ohio State University, Regional Economic Models, Inc., and the Urban Institute has released a policy brief describing the impact of potentially expanding eligibility for Medicaid in Ohio. The brief is a follow-up to the January release of preliminary findings from the study and includes refined projections and further analysis. It provides state policymakers with an analysis of the impact of a potential Medicaid expansion on the state budget, Ohio jobs and earnings, the number of uninsured in Ohio, and health care costs for Ohio’s employers and consumers. A two-page executive summary is also available.  

oHIO pROGRAM FOR CAMPUS SAFETY & MENTAL HEALTH

The Ohio Program for Campus Safety and Mental Health (OPCSMH) is a resource center promoting suicide prevention, mental health awareness and stigma reduction activities at college campuses across the state of Ohio.  Their primary goal is to stimulate collaboration between campus and community stakeholders to develop programs that prevent campus suicide and other violent acts. The ultimate outcome of such collaboration would be an improvement in the mental health status of students, faculty, and staff members on campuses in Ohio.  To that end, they fund 10 Collaborative Program Development Grants (CPDG) a year that support a variety of activities on campus, including gatekeeper training, depression screening and general mental health awareness programs. Visit their website to learn more about grantees, trainings and for a variety of resources!

National Center for Health Statistics: 11th Consecutive Year for Rise in Overdose Deaths

The number of deadly drug overdoses in the United States increased for the 11th consecutive year, according to new government data. In total, 38,329 people died of drug overdoses that year. Of the 57 percent whose deaths involved prescription drugs, three-quarters were due to painkillers such as OxyContin and Percocet, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Opioids were found in 77 percent of over­doses involving benzodiazepines such as Valium, Xanax or Ativan. They were also involved in 65 percent of overdoses with antiepileptic or anti-Parkinsonian drugs, 47 percent of overdoses involving antidepressants, and 56 percent of overdoses with fever-reducing and anti-inflammatory medications. To read more, click here.

Impact of Sequester on Behavioral Health

While a continuing resolution will keep the federal government from avoiding a shutdown, the sequester and its impact remain in effect unless and until a vote to repeal it occurs, with many of the cuts beginning April 1. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy reported on the sequestration’s potential effect on services to help reduce mental disorders, drug use and their consequences.  They identified cuts to the Mental Health Block Grant program which could result in lost care for 373,000 seriously mentally ill adults and seriously emotionally disturbed children. Close to 8,900 homeless persons with serious mental illness would not get needed outreach, treatment, housing and support through the Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH) program.  Additionally, approximately 91,000 fewer people would receive substance abuse treatment services from the Substance Abuse Block Grant. Inpatient addiction services could be cut by 109,000 admissions.  Finally, the Pentagon announced this week that they will not exempt mental health and behavioral experts from the furloughs in order to meet the sequester cuts.