Hello all -
Attached and linked are some materials that may be helpful to National Council staff and/or to my association exec colleagues. Several of them are for your eyes only, i.e. not for posting or distribution, because I thought they might add more specific examples, and those are noted.
- Formal Governor's orders from yesterday, including his Stay Home – Stay Healthy Order, and his designation of Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers (also attached)
- Washington Council's March 14 letter sent to the Governor and directors of state health agencies, copying key legislators (attached) Note: letter has been acknowledged but no formal response sent.
- March 18 letter sent by MaryAnne Lindeblad, director of our state Medicaid program, to the CEOs of the managed care organizations that administer our Medicaid funds (virtually everything except for duals, tribal healthcare and a few other small programs). It touches on quite a few of the points I raised in my letter, but as indicated on this morning's call, this is a request rather than a directive at this point.
- Telehealth-related communications
- March 17 email from me to our Health Care Authority (HCA, the state Medicaid and public employee insurance program), providing input and summarizing responses to three specific questions raised by HCA. Doubt that this is super-helpful to anyone else in terms of adding anything new
- HCA announcement re: expanded Telehealth Services – moving in the right direction but not very helpful in terms of 'how-to'
- HCA brief on Telehealth (also attached)
- HCA's Clinical Policy and Billing for COVID-109 (also attached)
- My communications with MaryAnne Lindeblad, our state Medicaid Director, regarding the imminent risk of insolvency among licensed behavioral health agencies (our members!). I'd prefer that you keep these materials in-house, but thought they might give you some more individualized examples of what our providers are experiencing and what they are requesting.
- Last but not least, a copy of the letter we sent today to our congressional delegation.
Please let me know if you have any questions about any of the above! Thank you for all you are doing to support us on a federal level. It helps to know we are in this together!
Best,
Ann
Ann Christian | CEO
Washington Council for Behavioral Health
achristian@thewashingtoncouncil.org
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Neal Comstock
Director of Membership
National Council
NealC@TheNationalCouncil.org202 748-8793
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