Affordable Care Act and You

The Affordable Care Act & You: Information and resources to increase your knowledge and to enhance models of care, practice, training and education. This will be updated related to topical information and specific models of service delivery, integrated care, prevention, promotion and recovery.

UPDATE 3/11/2013

Medicaid 101: What You Need to Know from The Alliance for Health Reform. The video is especially helpful to congressional staff members and others new to the issue, but it also is a useful review for anyone dealing with Medicaid issues, particularly as many states prepare to expand their programs.

Click to Watch Medicaid video 

The Alliance for Health Reform is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit health policy education group. http://www.allhealth.org/ 

Contact: Marilyn Werber Serafini 202/789-2300  mserafini@allhealth.org

 

This is a "go to" website,  http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/, for daily updates regarding developments in healthcare reform. Spend some time clicking and "searching" on this site.

Taking Essential Actions on Core Features of the Affordable Care Act on the Eve of Implementation

As we approach the eve of Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation, it is exceptionally important for us to take stock, assess where we actually stand, and then act. Three core ACA features deserve specific action-the Essential Health Benefit (EHB), the State Medicaid Expansion, and the State Marketplace. These mechanisms will determine how many persons will become newly enrolled in health insurance, and what insurance benefits will actually be available to them.

Read more at: http://www.behavioral.net/blogs/ron-manderscheid/taking-essential-actions-core-features-affordable-care-act-eve-implementation

What's changing when?This link identifies the timeline for implementation of the phases of Affordable Care Act

http://www.healthcare.gov/law/timeline/full.html

 Health Status Of (your)) Communities,This website provides information about your county's ranking in relation to health status and identifies the health related issues where you work and live? What might you do to address these? With whom might you work?  Take time to explore the "road map". You might be surprised where this takes you.

www.countyhealthrankings.org

 

State by State Fact Sheets

Choose your state to learn more about the immediate benefits of the Affordable Care Act.

 

• State By State Fact Sheets

 

• Learn the facts and statistics about how the Affordable Care Act will benefit each state.

 

Health Disparities, Health disparities refer to differences between groups of people. These differences can affect how frequently a disease affects a group, how many people get sick, or how often the disease causes death.

Many different populations are affected by disparities. These include

• Racial and ethnic minorities
• Residents of rural areas
• Women, children, the elderly
• Persons with disabilities

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/healthdisparities.html

 

This is a very good resource related toBehavioral Health Disparities.

www.nned.net

 

Integrated Care,There is a lot of discussion regarding integrated models of care. What does this entail? How might this influence your practice, one's classroom,  congregation, center etc.

http://www.integration.samhsa.gov/

 

This link provides very helpful "click on tabs" and relates a state wide initiative in California.

 http://www.ibhp.org/

 

This link connects you to theNational Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare'sdesignated site. It provides numerous annotated links to a wealth of information and resources.

http://www.thenationalcouncil.org/cs/search_results?indexId=default&hitsStart=1&query=Integrated+care&x=-859&y=-290 

 

 Advancing Integrated Mental Health Solutions-

www.uwaims.org/overview-integrated.html    

 

Training Curriculum for Integrated Care. This link represents a response of a professional association (American Psychological Association) and a recommendation for training and educating members. This could be a resource for AAPC members as well. 

http://www.apa.org/ed/graduate/task-force-report.pdf

 

Collaborative Family Healthcare Association.It is the premiere membership association that focuses on the integration of Primary Care and Behavioral Health Services. Its annual conference will be held  October 10-13, 2013, in Denver, CO

www.cfha.net

 

Prevention: It makes "good sense/cents" to prevent illness and promote health. This includes mind, body and spirit. The following links provide information re.Healthy Communities: Building Coalitions for Health

 

http://www.cdc.gov/healthycommunitiesprogram/

 

http://www.nasmhpd.org/docs/publications/docs/2011/Primary%20Prevention%20in%20Behavioral%20Health%20Final%202011_1.pdf

 

http://www.ihi.org/explore/TripleAim/Pages/default.aspx