The Worcester Mental Health Network Goes On!

Greetings:

Please join the WMHN on Wednesday, December 2nd at the MSPCC offices at 335 Chandler Street as it hosts Mary Bartholomew of Lutheran Social Services of New England. Mary will be speaking about the mental health needs of refugee children in the greater Worcester area. The program will begin at 4:30 p.m. and we hope to see as many as can make it.

Thank you,

Samuel Leadholm, Esq.
Health Law Advocates
30 Winter Street, Suite 1004
Boston, MA 02108

Caring Across Communities Briefing Kit: Addressing Mental Health Needs of Diverse Children and Youth

from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Recognizing the unique mental health challenges facing growing numbers of immigrant and refugee children, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation launched a national program to reduce emotional and behavioral health problems among school children in low-income, immigrant and refugee families. The program, Caring Across Communities: Addressing Mental Health Needs of Diverse Children and Youth, includes $4.5 million in grants awarded to 15 projects across the country that will work to bring school connected mental health services to children in need, particularly those from immigrant and refugee families. The 15 projects are operated by a partnership involving schools, families, students, mental health agencies and other community organizations to build effective, easily-accessed services for children and youth. To access the briefing kit visit, http://www.rwjf.org/pr/product.jsp?id=49488.

From the CHildren's Mental Health Campaign: Progress.

Save The Date:

CMHC Supporters' Meeting 11/17

Please join us on Tuesday, November 17 from 9:30-11am in the 9th floor conference room at 30 Winter Street for the next CMHC supporters' meeting.

At this meeting, we will hear from Vic DiGravio, President of the Association for Behavioral Health (formerly the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Corporations of MA) who will talk about implementation of CBHI from his agency's perspective.

We will also be discussing legislative and budget strategies for FY 2011.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact Matt Noyes at mnoyes@hcfama.org.

CMHC Sign-On Letter:

Ask Commercial Insurers To Pay Their Fair Share of MCPAP

The CMHC Executive Committee has prepared a letter to commercial insurers in Massachusetts, asking them to pay their fair share of the cost of the Massachusetts Child Psychiatric Access Project (MCPAP).

MCPAP is a fully state-funded program that provides telephonic mental health consultations to pediatricians, regardless of their insurance status. Since 2004, 63% of children served by MCPAP are on private insurance.

In the current budget crisis, it is imperative that commercial insurance companies pay their fair share for the benefits they get from the program.

Click here to read the letter.

To add your organization to the list of singers, please contact Matt Noyes at mnoyes@hcfama.org or 617-275-2939.

The deadline to sign on to the letter is noon on Friday, November 20.

Hey. It's November.

Full disclosure: I am sitting in a barbershop in Charleston SC, waiting for a haircut and wondering if Speaker Pelosi and her team will successful navigate the House rules to pass the House version of health reform today. I am not actively involved in the process, but the process in play in Washington this year will affect the way in which the CBHI is implemented in a big way. I am hopeful that it will work to the benefit of children, but I see many ways in which it could work against our efforts. So I am apprehensive. I am excited. I am nervous. I am hopeful.

With that mix of emotions, I don't want to do anything that could conceivable disrupt the process. Hence the silence of the last week.

There have been a few interesting things on the Massachusetts Children's Mental Health front.

• Blue Cross/ Blue Shield put out a paper on the status of the mental health workforce in Massachusetts that is worth reading here.
• Lesley Alderman had a nice piece in the New York Times on how patients should think about mental health parity, which kicks into play on January 1.
• All of the "Rosie D" remedy services under the CBHI have now kicked into play, except for Crisis Management Services, which has not been approved by CMS. The new CMS Administrator is likely to be appointed after the health reform debate is done; one wonders how this is affecting the negotiations on this point.

Progress seems steady, as the Massachusetts State budget continues to present challenges.

Back to health reform now.