NEWSLETTER 
Volume 3, Issue 18 - May 5, 2023

First Hearing of New Assembly Select Committee on Mental Health - CSAP Testifies

This Tuesday, at the beginning of Mental Health Awareness Week, the Assembly Select Committee on California's Mental Health Crisis held its first hearing. CSAP's Governmental Affairs Committee Vice Chairwoman Dr. Alexis Seegan represented CSAP with excellent testimony in which - as requested by the Chairman - she provided perspectives from the field. You may view the agenda and SYASL staff notes below. You may also listen to Dr. Seegan's testimony here by advancing to 2:44:10. 

Agenda
SYASL Staff Notes
 

Fed / APA Update

Congressional Briefing on Addiction Care

Dr. Smita Das (NCPS) will represent the APA at an upcoming Congressional briefing on addiction care. NCPS and CSAP will be well-represented in DC. 

Smita Das, MD, PhD, MPH is Board Certified in Psychiatry, Addiction Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine. Dr. Das is the chair of the APA Addiction Council. She has been a leader in the Northern California Psychiatric Society since 2012 and is a Past President of the APA District Branch. Prior to her position as Senior Medical Director of Psychiatry at Lyra Health, Dr. Das was Director of Addiction Treatment Services at the Palo Alto VA. In addition to her work at Lyra, Dr. Das practices in addictions at Stanford School of Medicine where she is a Clinical Associate Professor. 
 

Collaborate on CSAP's New Facebook Page! 

CSAP is now on Facebook. We know that many of you prefer to collaborate this way, so please consider this a new method of doing so. Will CSAP occasionally post content? Absolutely. However, first and foremost this is your Facebook page - so visit it here! 
 

NCPS Hosts Skyline Social During APA Conference

You are formally invited to the Northern California Psychiatric Society's San Francisco Skyline Social, an APA Member Reception at the upcoming APA Annual Meeting in just a little over two weeks! Come mingle with colleagues from all around the country as NCPS welcomes the APA to California with good company and a spectacular 270-degree skyline view atop the 11th floor lounge and rooftop venue of the One Kearny Club! If you attend, be sure to take pictures so you can post them on CSAP's new Facebook page!

This welcome event is open to all APA members and co-hosted by CSAP as well as the other four California District Branches and SYASL. 

Where: One Kearny Club, 23 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94108

When: May 21, 2023, 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm

Click here to RSVP!
 

State Budget Update / BH Modernization 

Lots of questions posed this week during a legislative budget subcommittee to Stephanie Welch, the Deputy Secretary of Behavioral Health at the California Health and Human Services Agency. Among other things, Ms. Welch (who participated in CSAP's recent virtual advocacy day), stated that a lot has happened since the MHSA passed and that funding doesn’t need to continue going to the same programs. Welch specifically pointed to parity laws, the Affordable Care Act, and CalAIM and noted that things like family therapy, peer-to-peer support, and visits from community health workers will soon be covered under Medi-Cal. These and other prevention services do not need to be funded with MHSA dollars she said; instead, public and private insurance plans can fund them. And, the Governor’s Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative will provide more mental health funding to schools. “We really feel like that’s a false choice” between focusing on prevention or severe cases, she said.

Agenda
Origins of California’s Mental Health Services Act
SYASL Staff Notes
 

CSAM / Medical Board of California (MBC)

Recently, the California Society of Addiction Medicine (CSAM) weighed in with the MBC, stating "As we continue turning the page on the COVID-19 pandemic, we see the progression of pressing issues for our field and our patients. One is the tragic escalation in overdose deaths. There are an increasing number of deaths due to fentanyl and stimulants in combination with fentanyl -- more than 106,000 persons in the U.S. in 2021 -- but deaths associated with prescription opioids have decreased during this time period. At the same time, however, the overall rates of DEA prosecution against doctors have increased. CSAM is advocating for approaches that will not result in doctors who are treating patients in good faith being inadvertently caught up in this growing trend. CSAM has submitted a request to the Medical Board of California (MBC) and the Department of Justice asking for the data and transparency related to these increased accusations. CSAM is asking for increased transparency regarding how these agencies use of the information in CURES, California’s prescription drug monitoring program. Click HERE to read CSAM’s letter.  
 

California Awards Nearly $17 Million for Youth Substance Use Prevention

California has awarded nearly $17 million to 44 community-based and tribal organizations to develop and increase substance use disorder prevention services through civic engagement and culturally competent programs. These awards are part of Elevate Youth California, a statewide DHCS program addressing substance use disorder. Investments will help grassroots community-based and tribal organizations develop substance use prevention services for young people living in communities disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs. Read more here. 

The Governer also issued a proclamation this week declaring May 1-7, 2023, as “Children's Mental Health Awareness Week.” View here. 
 

San Quentin Transformation Advisory Council

Governor Newsom has announced the members of the San Quentin Transformation Advisory Council. The Advisory Council is tasked with assisting the administration in delivering on the Governor’s announcement to transform San Quentin State Prison by 2025 into a one-of-a-kind rehabilitation center focused on improving public safety through rehabilitation and education via a scalable “California Model” that can be utilized across the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). The Council will be joined by Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg (founder of the Steinberg Institute), who has been named the Governor’s Lead Adviser on this effort. In his role as Lead Adviser, Steinberg will serve as the main liaison between the Advisory Council and the Governor’s Office. Read more here. 
 

OCPS Members - FYI, State Audit of CalOptima Released 

The California State Adutor conducted an audit of certain aspects of the budget, services and programs, and organizational changes of the Orange County Health Authority, referred to as CalOptima Health (CalOptima). CalOptima is the sole Medi-Cal managed care plan in Orange County and serves nearly one million members. The audit determined that CalOptima accumulated surplus funds it should have used to improve services, retained a larger share of funds obtained through a process known as intergovernmental transfer (IGT) than other managed care plans reviewed, and did not follow best practices when hiring for some executive positions. Read the fill report here. 
 

CYBHI

The California Youth Behavioral Health Initiative has released its April Update. View here. 
 

Worth a Read

• State looks at two sides of fentanyl crisis - As lawmakers debate merits of punishment vs. prevention, panel advances four bills.
• The path of most resistance - State Sen. Scott Wiener has made a career of pushing boundaries. Now he’s angling to succeed Pelosi in Congress.
• Opinion: What do San Diegans think should be done to improve mental health services?
• Homeless in the City Where He Was Once Mayor - Craig Coyner’s descent onto the streets of Bend, Ore., came after decades spent fighting as a lawyer and politician for those on the edge of society. "If he had been a dog...somebody would have rescued him long ago."
• Excited Delirium | CA lawmakers aim to ban the theory used by police as justification for in-custody deaths State Assemblymember Akilah Weber says the term has no medical foundation and is steeped in racial connotations.
• Senate Democrats want to raise taxes on big corporations. Gavin Newsom is not on board
• Newsom’s failure on homelessness would haunt a presidential bid
• Can the Legislature fight fentanyl overdoses without sparking a new ‘war on drugs’?
• Americans face epidemic of loneliness - Surgeon general warns that isolation also has ‘profound’ health risks and is as damaging as smoking and obesity.
• WHO ends global health emergency declaration for COVID-19
• ‘The system is designed for people to give up’  
• Promising therapies for depression, opioid withdrawal; coronation insights; planetary solutions grants