Organization & Financing

Related Links

Organizations

• American Managed Behavioral Healthcare Association
  http://www.ambha.org/
  This association represents several managed behavioral healthcare organizations, and promotes this industry in policy matters. The association works to achieve legislative and experience-based mental health and substance abuse parity in health benefits.
  
  
• Association of Behavioral Healthcare Management
  http://www.nccbh.org/abhm/index.htm
  The individual membership section of the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, representing more than 600 behavioral healthcare executives.
  
  
• Behavioral Health Headlines (BHH)
  http://www.samhsa.gov/mcnew/frames/frame_headlines.html
  This database includes all past issues of State Behavioral Health Headlines and is fully searchable by several characteristics: you can search by one or all of the menu terms; to search by date, enter appropriate start and/or end dates; you may also specify one or more States and/or one or more keywords. The database can be searched for specific words using the full text feature or by using the specific journal/newspaper volume and issue.
  
  
• Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc.
  http://www.chcs.org/
  A nonprofit, policy resource center that promotes high quality health care services for low-income populations and people with chronic illnesses and disabilities.
  
  
• Consumer-Operated Services Program
  http://www.cstprogram.org/consumer%20op/index.html
  This is a multi-site research initiative was designed to examine the effect of consumer-operated mental health services and determine how participation in such services affects overall costs to patients, facilities, and the health care system in general. Funded by the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), the research involves seven study sites, including include drop-in centers, education and advocacy training programs, and peer or mutual support programs, and a coordinating center.
  
  
• eHealthInsurance.com
  http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/ehi/index.html
  An internet self-service for individuals, families, and small businesses seeking health insurance plans.
  
  
• Employee Benefit Research Institute
  http://www.ebri.org/
  The Employee Benefit Research Institute is a nonpartisan and nonprofit research organization that provides information on issues related to the provision of employee benefits.
  
  
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
  http://www.hipaa.samhsa.gov/
  This site is provided by SAMHSA and details what effects the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act has on the provision of substance abuse and mental health services.
  
  
• Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
  http://www.jcaho.org/
  This commission performs health care accreditation and related services that support performance improvement in health care organizations. It also accepts complaints about health care organizations.
  
  
• Medicare: The Official U.S. Government Site for People with Medicare
  http://www.medicare.gov
  This is the official U.S. government site for people with Medicare, the Nation’s largest health insurance program. It is sponsored by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Federal agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that runs the Nation’s Medicare program.
  
  
• Mental Health Parity Act
  http://www.cms.gov/hipaa/hipaa1/content/mhpa.asp
  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services provides background information on the Mental Health Parity Act, the full text of the act, and answers to some common questions about this law.
  
  
• National Association of Mental Health Planning and Advisory Councils
  http://www.namhpac.org/
  A network of advocates, parents and consumers involved with state mental health planning across the country and supported by the federal Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS).
  
  
• National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors
  http://www.nasmhpd.org/
  This association works for the interests of State mental health programs. Nationally, it researches and distributes information about the financing and organization of mental health services.
  
  
• National Committee for Quality Assurance
  http://www.ncqa.org/
  The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to assessing and reporting on the quality of managed care plans
  
  
• National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare
  http://www.nccbh.org/
  This council is a nonprofit trade association for community providers of addiction and mental health services. Consulting services are provided to healthcare providers and educational resources are provided to council members.
  
  
• National Quality Measures Clearinghouse
  http://www.qualitymeasures.ahrq.gov/
  The NQMC allows users to search for evidence-based quality measures related to a specific disease or condition, treatment, age range, gender, vulnerable population, setting of care or contributing organization.
  
  
• Office of Organization and Financing
  http://www.mentalhealth.org/publications/allpubs/MCOO-81/default.asp
  This site describes the workings of the Office of Organization and Financing within the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
  
  
• Social Security Online
  http://www.ssa.gov/
  Federal agency responsible for the administration of disability and employment support for persons with disabilities, and retirees. The web site links users to Social Security regional and local offices.
  
  
• State Children's Health Insurance Program
  http://cms.hhs.gov/schip/
  The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 created a new children's health insurance program called the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). This program gave each state permission to offer health insurance for children, up to age 19, who are not already insured. SCHIP is a state administered program and each state sets its own guidelines regarding eligibility and services.
  
  
• State Health Facts Online by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
  http://www.statehealthfacts.kff.org/
  The Foundation disseminates information about health care issues and policies for health care professionals, policy makers, and the general public. State Health Facts online provides health care demographics on a state level.
  
  
• Staunton Farm Foundation
  http://www.stauntonfarm.org/index.html
  The goal of the foundation is to award grants to non-profit organizations for mental health treatment, care and support through programming that purposes to restore individuals to their optimal functioning and productivity in society. The Staunton Farm Foundation's funding is limited to the ten-county region of southwestern Pennsylvania, which includes Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
  
  
• The Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health: Chapter 6–Organizing and Financing Mental Health Services
  http://mentalhealth.about.com/library/sg/chapter6/blsec1.htm
  This link discusses research about the organization and financing of mental health services and their cost and quality.
  
  
• Understanding Your Mental Health Insurance
  http://www.aacap.org/publications/factsfam/insuranc.htm
  This informational page discusses the basics of mental health insurance and is provided by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
  
  
• Workplace Managed Care
  http://wmcare.samhsa.gov/
  Promising approaches to substance abuse prevention and early intervention in the workplace under a managed care environment can be found at this site.
  
  

Online Resources

• Behavioral Health Benefits In Employer-Sponsored Health Plans, 1997
  http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/reprint/18/2/67.pdf
  This article from the March/April 1999 issue of Health Affairs was co-authored by employees of CMHS' Office of Organization and Financing. It looks at the restrictions placed on behavioral health coverage compared with those placed on general medical coverage in employer-sponsored health plans.
  
  
• Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Programs
  http://www.cfda.gov/
  A searchable database of all Federal programs available to State and local governments (including the District of Columbia); Federally-recognized Indian tribal governments; Territories (and possessions) of the United States; domestic public, quasi-public, and private profit and nonprofit organizations and institutions; specialized groups; and individuals.
  
  
• Chartbooks of the National Center for Health Statistics
  http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus.htm
  NCHS is the Nation's principal agency on health statistics. NCHS produces chartbooks on American health care trends.
  
  
• Mental Health/Medical Care Cost Offsets: Opportunities For Managed Care
  http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/reprint/18/2/79.pdf
  This is an article from the March/April 1999 issue of Health Affairs. It argues that managed care has an opportunity to capture medical care cost savings by training utilization managers to make mental health services more accessible to patients whose excessive use of medical care is related to psychological factors.
  
  
• NeedyMeds.com
  http://www.needymeds.com/
  NeedyMeds.com provides information on medication assistance programs for individuals meeting financial hardship criteria.
  
  
• Patient Assistance Programs Directory
  http://www.phrma.org
  Created by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), this directory lists company programs that provide drugs to physicians whose patients could not otherwise afford them. Programs are listed alphabetically by company.
  
  
• RxHope.com
  http://www.rxhope.com
  This site provides help to physicians to apply for, obtain and track requests for no cost medications for their patients who are unable to afford them and do not have access to prescription insurance or government-funded programs.
  
  
• SAMHSA FY 2004 Grant Funding Opportunities
  http://alt.samhsa.gov/grants/2004/toc.asp
  This web site provides a list of grant opportunities available through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, for the 2004 fiscal year.
  
  
• Section 1915(b) Waiver
  http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medicaid/1915b/1915bc.asp
  Increasingly, States are expressing an interest in providing long-term care services in a managed care environment or using a limited pool of providers. In addition to providing traditional long-term care State plan services, many States are proposing to include non-traditional home and community-based "1915(c)-like" services in their managed care programs.
  
  
• State Medicaid Toll-Free Lines
  http://cms.hhs.gov/medicaid/tollfree.pdf
  An alphabetical listing of states' toll-Free "800" numbers for information about Medicaid.
  
  
• Achieving Compliance Together (ACT)
  http://www.eventstreams.com/cms/tm_001/database/register.asp
  CMS' Southern Consortium's Achieving Compliance Together (ACT) Team has developed a series of HIPAA presentations that can be viewed via your own computer at your own pace. The webcast presentations come complete with downloadable slides and other tools. To access these presentations, simply click on the above link.