Phyllis Vine asks “Why ACMHA?” Colleagues respond.
Resources
The Future of Health Care: Entering the Shift Age – A Q&A Highlight With David Houle
David Houle, author and futurist, brought to Summit the forces and contexts of the Shift Age and how they affect us as individuals, business people, and leaders. He looked at the future of generations, technology, IP, big data, and other topics to provide eye-opening transformations, weaving in a contextual and conceptual understanding of the huge forces and changes that are and will completely transform the health care and medical landscape in the next ten years. The Shift Age is one of, if not the most, transformative and exciting times in human history. Houle left us with suggestions for how to prepare for and adapt to this new age.
Understanding Seminal Moments – A Leadership Tool
Dr. AJ Robinson, CEO, Symphonic Strategies, led participants at the 2014 ACMHA Summit – “Leading the Future of Health” – through a model and several exercises to improve leadership skills in leading change. In this excerpt, Dr. Robinson speaks about knowing your history and defining seminal moment. He then leads the audience through a collective exercise. ACMHA member Dr. Ron Manderscheid ends the clip by providing an outline of what participants define as seminal moments in behavioral health.
Growing Into Peer Support
One of the tracks in the 2014 ACMHA Summit addressed the critical roles that consumers play in health care, both as peer supporters and as managers of their own health. That group developed the idea of producing short videos on two topics—peer support and health activation. In this clip, Jana provides an outstanding description of her own growth into peer support and how she has been able to help others and herself through this essential role.
Activation: Managing Your Own Health
One of the tracks in the 2014 ACMHA Summit addressed the critical roles that consumers play in health care, both as peer supporters and as managers of their own health. That group developed the idea of producing short videos on two topics—peer support and health activation. In this video Debbie and Ashley, mother and daughter, describe the family in which Ashley grew up and the mental health condition Ashley developed as a teen. Through her own growth in personal health literacy, Ashley was able to develop an understanding of the triggers for her own illness. This permitted her to become a health activated person, able to prevent episodes of depression even when confronted with the very untimely death of her young husband.
TIP 57: Trauma Informed Care in Behavioral Health Services
Assists behavioral health professionals in understanding the impact and consequences for those who experience trauma. Discusses patient assessment, treatment planning strategies that support recovery, and building a trauma-informed care workforce.
Transformational Leadership: A Dialogue
ACMHA: The College for Behavioral Health Leadership and Optum presented this webinar on transformational leadership November 21, 2013. Our speakers were Andy Sekel, PhD, CEO, Optum Specialty Networks, and Jennifer Andrashko, MSW, LICSW, Open Door Health Center. Enjoy this presentation and dialogue about transformational leadership and connecting the follower’s sense of identity and self to projects and the collective identity of the organization.
Dr. Sekel, a seasoned leader in the field, oversees behavioral health, complex medical conditions, and physical health services that improve the overall health and well-being of individuals in the employer and health plan markets, as well as beneficiaries in Medicaid, Medicare, and other local, state and federal programs. Ms. Andrashko, an emerging leader, currently directs an integrated primary behavioral health program, which she also developed and implemented, in the only community health center in south-central Minnesota.
Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act
The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) is a federal law that generally prevents group health plans and health insurance issuers that provide mental health or substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits from imposing less favorable benefit limitations on those benefits than on medical/surgical benefits. MHPAEA originally applied to group health plans and group health insurance coverage and was amended by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively referred to as the “Affordable Care Act”) to also apply to individual health insurance coverage. HHS has jurisdiction over public sector group health plans (referred to as “non-federal governmental plans”), while the Departments of Labor and the Treasury have jurisdiction over private group health plans.
Collaborative Leadership: A Foundation for Success Webinar
ACMHA, in collaboration with Optum, presented the webinar “Collaborative Leadership: A Foundation for Success on September 19, 2013. Presenters were Sandy Forquer, PhD, Sevior Vice President for State Government Programs, Optum Public Sector; Sharon Raggio, LMFT, LPC, MBA, President and CEO< Mind Springs Health; and Cheri Dolezal, RN, MBA, Executive Director, Optum Pierce Regional Support Network. Recording was delayed approximately 4 minutes. The video begins with the webinar in progress.
Coalition for Whole Health Toolkit on Benefits, Parity, and Network Adequacy
In August, 2013, the Coalition for Whole Health released a toolkit to provide state-level advocates with the materials they need to advocate for strong implementation and oversight of the ACA’s essential health benefits, parity, and network adequacy protections in their state.
ACMHA: A Policy Solace
In 2006, the Board of Directors formalized the longstanding direction and tradition of the College to not take positions on public policy. In doing so, then president Dr. Eric Goplerud drafted an Arm Chair Reflection explaining why. The College continues to serve as the place where we wrestle with difficult ideas and seek to inform one another, without creation of a policy agenda.
Highlights: Learning From Distinguished Leaders – ACMHA Summit 2013
ACMHA: The College for Behavioral Health Leadership is pleased to present highlights from an evening with three distinguished leaders: King Davis, PhD; Mary Jane England, MD; and HG Whittington, MD. In an interview format we hear how particular experiences shaped them and through their stories, we learn what motivates them, drives their passion, and how they sustain their enthusiasm for innovation in the face of undeniable challenges.
Learning From Distinguished Leaders – April 2, 2013
ACMHA: The College for Behavioral Health Leadership is pleased to present an evening with three of ACMHA’s distinguished leaders: King Davis, PhD; Mary Jane England, MD; and HG Whittington, MD. In an interview format led by emerging leaders from the College, we heard how particular experiences shaped them and their leadership skills. Through their stories, we learned what motivates them, what drives their passion, and how they sustain their enthusiasm for innovation in the face of undeniable challenges. Please enjoy this dynamic conversation!
Mental health and addiction workforce development: Federal leadership is needed to address the growing crisis
In a commentary for Health Affairs, Michael Hoge and coauthors summarize the substantial and growing body of evidence that the current mental health and substance abuse workforce is seriously inadequate with regard to number of practitioners, lack of diversity in its composition and overall preparation. The authors recognize that, with a growing number of older and ethnically diverse Americans who are at high risk for behavioral health disorders, combined with the sheer influx of newly insured, the system is at a point of crisis. They call on the Federal government to scale up and actually implement already identified “broad strategies and specific actions necessary” to grow and strengthen the mental health and substance abuse workforce to meet the challenges it faces now and in the future.
Mental Health’s Great Gray Area
Most acts of violence are committed by people who are not mentally ill. And people with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators. But tragedies like those in Newtown, Aurora, and Tucson nevertheless tend to jumpstart vital conversations about mental health services and policy.
ACMHA DC Policy Forum Issue Brief
Executive Summary
Health is a prerequisite and a goal of development and progress. As the pace of change in healthcare accelerates, leaders increasingly recognize the need to dramatically improve health outcomes for people at risk for, or living with, chronic illnesses in the United States. Current approaches will no longer be sufficient. Community support and development strategies are needed to foster prevention and health promotion.
Chronic conditions are the biggest drivers of health care and disability costs, and behavioral health conditions are increasingly recognized as major contributing factors to these costs. Managing and treating these conditions accounts for more than 75 percent of health care spending in the United States, while only 3 percent of health care spending goes to public health prevention programs.