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HHS

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RCPA member Children’s Crisis Treatment Center (CCTC) hosted the U.S. Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Xavier Becerra for a roundtable discussion on children’s mental health and the impact of community violence on the afternoon of Friday, July 15, 2022. The roundtable was moderated by Dr. Ala Stanford, who is the Regional Director for HSS, responsible for all of Pennsylvania, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. Dr. Stanford is a practicing physician and the founder of the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium, which focuses on testing and vaccinating Philadelphia residents against COVID-19.

Xavier Becerra is the 25th Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and the first Latino to hold the office in the history of the United States. Secretary Becerra was in Philadelphia to promote the launch of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (formerly known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline), which is a network of more than 200 state and local call centers.

“CCTC was proud to be chosen as the organization the Secretary visited. It was wonderful to share with him the work that is being done in Philadelphia around children’s mental health services and highlight the impactful work CCTC provides in our centers, community, and schools,” said Antonio Valdés, Chief Executive Officer at CCTC.

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The Biden administration on Friday, July 15, 2022, extended the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) for another three months. US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra officially renewed the declaration, extending it through October 13, 2022. The extensions include the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) standards governing the delivery of services via telehealth.

If you have additional questions, please contact your RCPA Policy Director.

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Message from the Provider Relief Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA):

HRSA is making more than $413 million in Provider Relief Fund (PRF) Phase 4 General Distribution payments to more than 3,600 providers across the country this week.

Providers received an email notification Monday, March 21 if their application was among those processed in this latest batch. HRSA is working to review all remaining applications as quickly as possible.

With this announcement, a total of nearly $12 billion in PRF Phase 4 payments has now been distributed to more than 82,000 providers in all 50 states, Washington D.C., and five territories. This is in addition to HRSA’s distribution of American Rescue Plan (ARP) Rural payments, totaling nearly $7.5 billion in funding to more than 44,000 providers since November 2021.

Learn More

  • HHS updated the state-by-state table detailing all Phase 4 payments made to date.
  • As individual providers agree to the terms and conditions of Phase 4 payments, it will be reflected on the public dataset.

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The Office of Inspector General (OIG) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a favorable advisory opinion regarding contingency management (CM), an evidence-based approach for treating substance use disorders (SUD) that uses financial incentives to reward healthy behavior, such as abstinence and treatment retention, according to the National Council for Mental Wellbeing.

CM has been shown to be an effective approach for those with SUD in more than 100 randomized controlled trials over 50 years. Evidence shows it can double abstinence rates across opioids, stimulants, alcohol, tobacco, and nicotine, compared to usual care alone. It is the most effective and most evidence-based treatment for stimulant use disorders. In 2021, the Biden Administration declared advancing CM among its drug policy priorities.

The advisory opinion clears the way for CM for routine use in publicly funded substance use treatment programs and healthcare facilities under federal reimbursement, including Medicaid.

Read the full press release.

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Photo by Jakayla Toney on Unsplash

COVID-19 testing is an essential activity that increases safety for congregate care settings as part of a comprehensive mitigation strategy. Two resources are now available for providers and facilities.

Operation Expanded Testing (OpET) is a federal testing resource that may be useful to your organization. Please see the presentation slides for more detailed information. Providers wishing to use OpET as a resource should coordinate directly with Eurofins.

OpET At A Glance

  • No contract is needed for participation in OpET.
  • No charge. OpET is 100% funded through the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
  • No exclusivity. The organization can end testing at any time for any reason.
  • All supplies are sent to testing location two weeks in advance at no charge.
  • All training is supplied at no charge.
  • No charge for courier services; Eurofins will coordinate specimen pickup and supply delivery.
  • No waiting to get another sample. Auto retesting (reflex) if PCR pooled group is found to be positive.
  • No cost rapid testing. When used in conjunction with PCR pooled testing program, antigen testing is available for program options.
  • 24-hour results turnaround (TAT) for PCR testing.
  • Reporting is fully automated and HIPAA compliant using Concentric by Ginkgo.
  • Testing flexibility — facility can determine their own testing frequency, with specific PCR pooled groups of 5–24 samples at a time.
  • Staff can participate in the OpET program.

If you wish to enroll or have questions related to Operation Expanded Testing, please contact Eurofins via email or call 833-742-0862. Questions related to this communication should be directed virtually here.

In addition, due to the recent surge in COVID-19, the Bureau of Human Services Licensing (BHSL) has been receiving a large number of requests for testing support. If your facility needs testing due to an active outbreak or to prepare for an outbreak, please contact the Dept. of Health via email for questions about LTC testing assistance and/or to get access to testing support and resources. You can also complete and submit the “Universal Testing Needs Assessment Form.” If eligible, someone will contact you for scheduling.

If you are a facility requesting additional Abbott BinaxNOW cards, please email with the amount of tests requested and your shipping information. Note that your facility must have a CLIA certification to perform rapid COVID antigen testing to be eligible for the BinaxNOW cards.

Please contact the Dept. of Health for any additional information on testing.

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On December 8, the Health and Human Services Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development launched a Housing and Services Resource Center, to help older adults and people with disabilities access federal resources and guidance on both housing and services that support community living, including Medicaid-funded home and community-based services, vouchers, and other programs.

You can see more information on the services available here.

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American Rescue Plan Funding Will Support State Efforts to Transform Suicide and Mental Health Crisis Care

Today the Department of Health and Human Services, through its Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), will make critical investments in suicide prevention and crisis care services, announcing $282 million to help transition the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline from its current 10-digit number to a three-digit dialing code – 988.

In 2020, Congress designated the new 988 dialing code to be operated through the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Converting to this easy-to-remember, three-digit number will strengthen and expand the existing Lifeline network, providing the public with easier access to life-saving services. The Lifeline currently helps thousands of people overcome crisis situations every day. The 988 dialing code will be available nationally for call, text, or chat beginning in July 2022.

Standing up the 988 dialing code is a key part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s focus on ensuring that those in crisis have someone to call, someone to respond, and somewhere to go. The 988 code is a first step toward transforming crisis care in this country, creating a universal entry point to needed crisis services in line with access to other emergency medical services.

With funds from the Biden-Harris Administration’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 budget and additional funds from the American Rescue Plan, SAMHSA’s $282 million investment will support 988 efforts across the country to shore up, scale up, and staff up, including:

  • $177 million to strengthen and expand the existing Lifeline network operations and telephone infrastructure, including centralized chat/text response, backup center capacity, and special services (e.g., a sub-network for Spanish language-speakers).
  • $105 million to build up staffing across states’ local crisis call centers.

“As we continue to confront the impact of the pandemic, investing in this critical tool is key to protecting the health and wellbeing of countless Americans – and saving lives. Giving the states a tool to prevent suicide and support people in crisis is essential to our HHS mission of protecting the health and wellbeing of everyone in our nation,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “We know that remembering a three-digit number beats a ten-digit number any day, particularly in times of crisis, and I encourage every state to rev up planning to implement 988 for the sake of saving lives.”

To support the initial transition to 988, SAMHSA’s investment represents a budget increase of more than 10 times the FY 2021 budget amount of $24 million. A large portion of FY 2022 funding will be distributed to crisis centers across the country.

“This investment in states’ crisis call center operations will help strengthen our partnership as SAMHSA works with states to meet the suicide prevention and behavioral health needs of people across our nation,” said Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, Ph.D., the HHS Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use and the leader of SAMHSA. “Transformation of this scale is never easy – but too many Americans are experiencing suicide and mental health crises without the support and care they need. The federal government cannot do this alone.”

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among young people and was the tenth-leading cause of death in the nation in 2019, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. In 2019, one death by suicide happened almost every 11 minutes in the US.

More recently, SAMHSA’s 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) data show 4.9 percent of adults aged 18 or older had serious thoughts of suicide, 1.3 percent made a suicide plan, and 0.5 percent attempted suicide in the past year. Among adolescents 12 to 17, 12 percent had serious thoughts of suicide, 5.3 percent made a suicide plan, and 2.5 percent attempted suicide in the past year. The findings vary by race and ethnicity, with people of mixed ethnicity reporting higher rates of serious thoughts of suicide.
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