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Substance Use Disorder

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Today, the National Council for Mental Wellbeing released the results of its first comprehensive consumer survey on access to mental health and substance use care, showing there are significant unmet needs, far more than physical health needs.

Results from the 2022 Access to Care survey, conducted by The Harris Poll, show a staggering 43 percent of U.S. adults who say they needed substance use or mental health care in the past 12 months but did not receive that care. They identified numerous barriers that stand between them and needed treatment. You can download the full survey results here.

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Message from RCPA Member Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation (PATF):

We are so excited to announce that Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation (PATF) has helped a record number of people with our low- and no-interest loan programs, our information and assistance services, and our financial education resources.

Of note, after we increased the lending cap on our Mini-Loan program from $2,000 to $7,000, this program grew by 151%! (see below: 2021 by the Numbers) 

And it doesn’t stop there! We published Smart Homes Made Simple: Your Guide to Smart Home Technology and launched SmartHomesMadeSimple to help the disability community learn about mainstream smart home devices and how they can be financed.

In March of this year, PATF hosted a smart home webinar with more than 500 attendees from around the world!

We are proud to share our organization’s growth over the last year, in which assistive technology (AT) was critical, to support people with disabilities and older adults stay safe, healthy, and connected to our community.

Read PATF’s Impact Report.

With your unwavering support – our donors, borrowers, partners, families and friends – we were able to expand and create new programs to help people with disabilities and older Pennsylvanians live more independently. Thank you!

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There is a significant intersection between behavioral health and brain injury. As many as 75 percent of those seeking services for co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders are living with the effects of brain injury. Further complicating this fact is that many individuals seeking behavioral health services have not been properly diagnosed or screened for brain injury. These individuals may not even be aware that a brain injury may be part of why they are struggling. Additionally, many state behavioral health systems have policies or practices in place that can inadvertently turn someone with a brain injury away from much needed behavioral health services. Behavioral health clinicians often feel ill-equipped to address the needs of someone with a brain injury, which can lead to poor treatment outcomes.

The Administration for Community Living (ACL) Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Technical Assistance and Resource Center’s (TARC’s) will be offering a webinar to introduce their Behavioral Health Guide, designed to provide state brain injury professionals with the tools to effectively partner with their state behavioral health entities and improve outcomes. This webinar, “Introductory Webinar to the Behavioral Health Guide: Considerations for Best Practices for Children, Youth, and Adults with TBI,” will be held on Wednesday, June 22, 2022 from 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm. To participate in this webinar, register here.

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In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, the Pennsylvania Insurance Department is highlighting its continued work to ensure that insurers operating within the commonwealth are following state and federal parity laws, allowing those faced with mental health or substance use disorders continued access to needed care.

Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA), health insurance plans and insurers must offer mental health and substance use disorder benefits that are no less restrictive than their coverage for medical or surgical care. These benefits include quantitative limitations (copays, deductibles, and limits on inpatient or outpatient visits that are covered) and non-quantitative limitations (pre-authorizations, providers available through a plan’s network, and what a plan deems “medically necessary”).

Read the full press release.

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Considering the increasing rates of overdose deaths in the United States and to ensure that all people have access to a robust continuum of care and evidence-based services to improve their health, the National Council for Mental Wellbeing continues to build support for a wide range of overdose prevention and harm reduction strategies. A few program and resource examples of this include:

In addition to funding 16 harm reduction pilot projects and efforts to increase the number of sites next year as well as to branch out to mental health and substance use treatment partners, the National Council has also recently become a partner of the National Harm Reduction Technical Assistance (TA) Center.

National Council is conducting a survey and key informant interviews to better understand how to inform program implementation with its members. National Council requests that respondents complete this survey to help the organization understand the technical assistance needs related to harm reduction among prevention, treatment, and recovery organizations. The survey should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete and is anonymous.

By completing this survey by close of business June 3, respondents will also have the chance to enter an optional raffle to win a free registration for NatCon23, the National Council’s annual conference, which is being held in Los Angeles, CA.

Please contact Yoon Hyung Choi with any questions or to express interest in being interviewed as a key informant.

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The agenda for the June 1, 2022, Managed Long-Term Services and Supports (MLTSS) Subcommittee meeting was recently released by the Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL). The June meeting will continue to be offered via webinar and remote streaming. OLTL is planning to hold the July 6, 2022, MLTSS Subcommittee meeting in person with optional webinar and remote streaming.

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On May 23, 2022, United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released a new Surgeon General’s advisory that highlights the urgent need to address the health worker burnout crisis across the country. The advisory titled “Addressing Health Worker Burnout” warns that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated longstanding system challenges in the health care system. Health workers, including physicians, nurses, community and public health workers, nurse aides, and others have risked their own lives throughout the pandemic.

A series of recommendations are included in the advisory.

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Yesterday, RCPA held its 2022 Capitol Day on the Capitol steps in Harrisburg. Members had the opportunity to meet with their legislators and hear from Charlie Barber, RCPA Board Chair, Sherri Landis, Executive Director for the ARC of Pennsylvania, Rep. Jessica Benham, Rep. Dan Miller, and Rep. Carrie Lewis DelRosso about the importance of funding intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and behavioral health services.

As a follow-up to Capitol Day, RCPA would like those members who attended to give an update about their legislative meetings. This member intel will be beneficial for RCPA staff to effectively lobby the Governor and the General Assembly over the next few weeks.

RCPA is hosting this follow-up to Capitol Day on Wednesday, June 1, at 9:00 am. Members can register for the call here.

Please contact Jack Phillips with questions.

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