2010 SAAS National Conference and NIATx Summit
The National Impact - 5/4/10
Health Information Technology Legislation (H.R. 5040) Introduced in the House; Bill Would Make Addiction and Mental Health Service Providers Eligible for HIT Funds
On April 14th, Representatives Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and Tim Murphy (R-PA) introduced H.R. 5040, the Health Information Technology Extension for Behavioral Health Services Act of 2010, to make certain addiction and mental health service providers eligible to receive certain health information technology (HIT) funds. These funds include HIT resources provided through last year’s stimulus legislation, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which allocated HIT funds to many health service providers but excluded most providers of addiction and mental health services from eligibility. Click here for a summary of H.R. 5040 and full text and status of the bill can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov.
The National Impact - 2/3/10
President Obama’s FY 2011 Budget Released
On February 1st, the Obama Administration released the FY 2011 federal budget. The President’s budget includes funding requests for federal drug and alcohol prevention, treatment, recovery and research programming and for programs serving people with criminal records. Under the President’s FY 2011 budget, programs in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) would receive $3.7 billion, a $110 million increase over FY 2010 funding. The 2011 fiscal year runs from October 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011.
Health Reform Update - 1/15/10
Passage of a final health care package may be imminent (see below for an update), so action today is critical!
Earlier this week, over 110 organizations from the addiction prevention, treatment and recovery, mental health, public health, children's advocacy, HIV/AIDS, criminal justice, civil rights and housing communities wrote to the leadership of the House and Senate, emphasizing the need to include key provisions for mental health and addiction prevention, treatment and recovery support services in the final national healthcare reform package. Click here to read this letter to Senate Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
