From the APA: The American Psychiatric Association is moving quickly to protect access to mental health and substance use disorder coverage. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) recently unveiled a new proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act but their proposal would: Eliminate guaranteed coverage of substance use disorders and mental ... read more
From the APA: Revised 2018 ICD-10-CM codes, released by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), are scheduled to take effect on October 1, 2017. The codes include new, updated, or deleted codes for diagnoses listed in ICD-10-CM, including some 65 codes related to mental health conditions listed in DSM-5. All practitioners and payers must use ... read more
From the APA: Dear Members of the APA, We are continuing to monitor the impact of Hurricane Harvey and are closely watching the path of Hurricane Irma. We know from previous natural disasters that those affected have multiple service needs, even months and years after the traumatic event. We also know that addressing the mental ... read more
From the AMA Yesterday afternoon Senate leadership overcame the first legislative hurdle in their attempt to pass potentially devastating health care legislation. With the motion to proceed vote deadlocked at 50-50, the Vice President cast the deciding vote in favor of moving forward. This is serious! The Senate will now take votes over the next ... read more
From the AMA Despite overwhelming grassroots pressure, the U.S. Senate continues to flirt with health care legislation that could have disastrous consequences. The latest plan being considered, the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), could have resulted in 22 million Americans losing their coverage by 2026, but lacked the necessary votes to pass and effectively sent ... read more
From APA Headlines: APA Urges Members To Contact Their Senators To Voice Opposition To Health Reform Bill. Psychiatric News (6/20) reports that members of the American Psychiatric Association “are urged to contact their US senators to voice opposition to the health care reform bill now being considered in the Senate.” It is expected that senators will “vote on ... read more
Excerpt from the APA: Recently, the House passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA) by a narrow margin to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Now, the Senate is drafting their own version of the AHCA. As you know, the House-passed AHCA would have a substantial negative impact on individuals with mental illness ... read more
From the APA: Recently, the House passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA) by a narrow margin to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Now, the Senate is drafting their own version of the health care reform. As you know, the House-passed AHCA would have a substantial negative impact on individuals with mental illness and ... read more
Dear OCPS Member, At the recent OCPS Council meeting on May 2, 2017, the Council authorized a Special Election for the President-Elect position to take place this month. The President-Elect will hold office immediately following the election, and then assume the role of the President in May, 2018 for the 2018 to 2020 term. As ... read more
We are pleased to report that Nancy Novak has accepted the position as our new Executive Director, replacing Mary Ann Awad. While Mary Ann’s departure is an unfortunate loss for OCPS, we are supportive of her decision to pursue her career and thank her for her services over the past year. We would like to take this ... read more
