Addictions Practice Group Meeting

DATE:
March 9, 2017 / Time:
1:30 to 3:00 p.m. / Presiding:
Bob Budsock / Recorded By:
Shauna Moses
Attendees:Nadine Bennett, Ileen Bradley, Bob Budsock, Amanda Davis, Earl Lipphardt, Kendria McWilliams, Linda Mur, Michele Smith, Lori Sonenblum, Mary Gay Abbott-Young
Guest: Rich Bowe, Executive Director, The Certification Board; George Bilyk, Director of Healthcare Policy (Mental Health), Johnson & Johnson Healthcare System; and Chris Womack, Healthcare Policy and Advocacy Director, Johnson & Johnson North American Pharmaceuticals
Staff:Shauna Moses, Debra Wentz
AGENDA ITEMS/ISSUE / DISCUSSION / ACTIONS TAKEN/OUTCOME / TIME-FRAME / WHO’S RESPONSIBLE
Approval of the Minutes from the January 12, 2017 Meeting / N/A / The minutes were m/s/p. / N/A / N/A
Jail Diversion and Reentry of Inmates / George Bilyk from Johnson & Johnson stated that police officers who receive Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training are 25% less likely to incarcerate nonviolent individuals and that re-arrests have decreased by 58%.
He noted that in New Jersey, in-carcerated individuals are eligible for Medicaid coverage upon their release from jail or prison; how-ever, this is not implemented in all counties. He added that mental health courts and drug courts are good opportunities for jail diver-sion, and recommended that dis-charge planners should begin working with inmates 30 days before their release (e.g., enroll them in Medicaid; arrange for housing, transportation and medical care), as this greatly increases their opportunities for success. / Click on the links below to access related back-ground issue briefs, which were distributed at this meeting:
Medicaid Continuity: Policies Impacting Indi-viduals with Serious Mental Illness who Encounter the Criminal Justice System
The Case for Diversion and Re-Entry Transition Programs for Individuals with Serious Mental Illness / N/A / N/A
Licensing / Rich Bowe provided the following information and explained that in addition to issuing licenses and certifications, The Certification Board serves as New Jersey’s registrar, determining if courses that providers take are sufficiently equivalent for meeting licensure requirements. (continued) / Members can send questions, as well as requests to track staff’s progress toward licen-sure/certification to Rich at . / N/A / N/A
AGENDA ITEMS/ISSUE / DISCUSSION / ACTIONS TAKEN/OUTCOME / TIME
FRAME / WHO’S RESPONSIBLE
Licensing (continued) / The Certification Board also pre-registers licensure candidates with the testing company and tracks individuals’ progress toward completion of the required 270 hours of field work. He noted that reciprocal LCADC’s would need to take The Certification Board’s exam and that reciprocal LCSW’s can take the advanced exam to earn LCADC’s.
Rich stated that The Certification Board adheres to specific time frames (provided with the previous meeting minutes). When a time frame is not met, it is usually due to incomplete infor-mation being provided to The Certification Board.
Rich noted that the Division of Consumer Affairs (DCA) handles re-certifications. The Certification Board does not handle graduate level course work.
Rich suggested that agency directors request that staff show them their Certification Board letters about the required 270 hours to encourage staff’s timely submission of documents to the Certification Board.
He noted that when certificates of course completion are lost, providers should contact either DCA, the New Jersey Prevention Network or another course provider to obtain the official records. / N/A / N/A / N/A
Sober Living Regulations / Mary Gay Abbott-Young reported that a workgroup consisting of a few Practice Group members held a conference call to begin plan-ning for advocacy. She noted that the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) (continued)
AGENDA ITEMS/ISSUE / DISCUSSION / ACTIONS TAKEN/OUTCOME / TIME
FRAME / WHO’S RESPONSIBLE
Sober Living Regulations (continued) / has developed regulations, which do not address staffing. / NJAMHAA will request a meeting with DCA Commissioner Charles Richman / Following this meeting [This was completed. A meeting is scheduled for May 5, 2017.] / Shauna Moses
Updates / State Budget:Debra Wentz reported that the State Budget does not include significant discretionary funding and it does not provide a breakdown of how the $127 million (primarily the federal drawdown of Medicaid matching funds) will be allocated for substance use and mental health services. However, the bud-get overall is positive for sub-stance use treatment, as it includes funds for maintaining the rate increases that became effective on July 1, 2016, expansion of the Recovery Coach program and a treatment program for inmates.
Federal Funding: It was noted that funding from the 21st Century Cures Act ($13 million per year for two years) will be used for new fee-for-service initiatives to treat and prevent addictions to opioids and heroin.
Professional Advisory Committee (PAC): This group discussed the issue of having 18- and 19-year-olds treated for substance use in the Children’s System of Care (CSOC); Valerie Mielke, Assis-tant Commissioner, Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS), recorded providers’ concerns to share with others at DMHAS. Following this PAC meeting, she announced at DMHAS’ provider meeting that 18- and 19-year-olds could be treated in the adult system; that this will continue (continued) / NJAMHAA will share additional details as they become available.
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N/A / Ongoing
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N/A / Debra Wentz, Mary Abrams, Shauna Moses
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N/A
AGENDA ITEMS/ISSUE / DISCUSSION / ACTIONS TAKEN/OUTCOME / TIME
FRAME / WHO’S RESPONSIBLE
Updates (continued) / for Drug Court and other 18- and 19-year-olds, but not individuals who are on probation or parole. The timeframe for when 18- and 19-year-olds will be served only by the CSOC has not been deter-mined yet. / N/A / N/A / N/A
Request for Input for the Drug Abuse Control Task Force / Meeting attendees shared some input for NJAMHAA to incorpo-rate into its recommendations to this Task Force. / Members were asked to send additional feedback to Shauna, as well as directly to the Depart-ment of Human Services.
Practice Group’s Next Report to the Board / It was agreed that the issue about 18- and 19-year-olds with sub-stance use disorders being moved to the CSOC would be discussed with the Board. / March 15, 2017 / Bob Budsock

Upcoming Meetings:

  • Addictions Practice Group, Thursday, May 11, 2017, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at NJAMHAA
  • Membership Meeting, Wednesday, June 21, 2017 from 10:00 a.m. to noon at NJAMHAA
  • Adult Mental Health Practice Group, featuring a presentation on an innovative, iPad-based opioid addiction treatment program: Tuesday, July 25, 2017 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. at NJAMHAA

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