Medicaid Coverage of Behavioral Health Services for Children, Youth, and Young Adults with Significant Mental Health Conditions

Posted at http://gucchdtacenter.georgetown.edu/resources/TAWebinars.html Reposted at http://www.darkestcloset.blogspot.com,

June 20, 2013, 1:00 - 2:30 PM E.T.

Webinar Description: This webinar will provide a comprehensive overview of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Joint Informational Bulletin issued on May 7, 2013, entitled "Coverage of Behavioral Health Services for Children, Youth, and Young Adults with Significant Mental Health Conditions".

This bulletin provides important information to assist states in designing a service array to enable children with complex behavioral health needs to be served in their homes and communities. In addition to describing important services to include in a benefit design such as Intensive Care Coordination using a Wraparound approach, parent and youth peer support services, intensive in-home services, respite care, mobile crisis response and stabilization and flex funds, the document provides links to helpful resources from states who have successfully been using these services.

Comprehensive information is provided about the various Medicaid Authorities and Demonstrations that can be used to provide the kind of coverage described in this bulletin. Much of the information in the bulletin is based on the experiences of states and communities supported by two major CMS and SAMHSA initiatives - the Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities (PRTF) Waiver Demonstration and the Children's Mental Health Initiative. In this webinar, two states who have experience with both of these initiatives will share their lessons learned from the beginning stages of benefit design, through the successes and challenges in providing the services, and finally to their sustainability plans using several of the Medicaid Authorities and Demonstrations described in the bulletin.