Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown has filed a lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group and Optum, seeking $380 million in damages stemming from alleged issues administering a Medicaid behavioral health program. “Marylanders in crisis and the providers who care for them rely…
Government & Regulation
Arizona failed to ensure that insurers administering its Medicaid program complied with federal requirements prohibiting stricter prior authorization limits on mental health services compared to medical services, an audit report published Aug. 24 by the HHS Office of Inspector General…
New York’s Medicaid program failed to ensure that insurers administering the program were not denying prior authorization requests for mental health services at higher rates than for medical services, an audit report published Aug. 14 by the HHS Office of…
HHS added new peer support programs to the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse, allowing states to seek federal matching funds for providing the services, according to an Aug. 18 news release from the agency. Here are five things to know:…
Several states are taking legal steps to mitigate kratom consumption across the country. The drug, derived from a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia, contains more than 50 alkaloids in its leaves, including mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH. The latter…
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Massachusetts is moving to restrict kratom sales statewide after Department of Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein, MD, PhD, issued an emergency order temporarily placing all forms of the substance into Schedule I under Massachusetts law. The restriction will take effect…
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., White House Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Sara Carter, and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner released a toolkit Aug. 12 focused on addressing homelessness and addiction through treatment. The “Best…
More than two months after California’s new nurse-to-patient staffing ratios for freestanding acute psychiatric hospitals took effect, state lawmakers are pushing regulators to loosen a rule that hospital leaders said has closed beds and destabilized the nursing workforce. Becker’s has…
North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong issued an executive order barring the sale, use and possession of all kratom and kratom products, which were unregulated with no minimum age for purchase, in the state, effective Aug. 5. The executive order declared…
More than 60 House Democrats raised concerns about reductions in the Veterans Health Administration’s behavioral and mental health workforce and the potential effects on veterans’ access to care, according to a July 28 letter sent to VA Secretary Doug Collins.…