After 32 years in the mental health field and 27 with West Central Mental Health, Dan Cushman retires.

After 26-years of service as executive director for Colorado West Regional Mental Health, Doctor Ken Stein is retired.

State Medicaid agencies are playing an increasing role in funding, managing, and monitoring public mental health services in States, reflecting the steady growth over the last three decades in the share of public mental health services funded by Medicaid. Yet relatively little is known on a State-by-State basis about how Medicaid agencies are exercising their…

Colorado’s teens top the nation in depression, and its young people drink, smoke and use dangerous drugs more often than their counterparts in most other states, a federal study shows. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration report is based on responses by 136,000 people to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.…

Several CBHC staff and member representatives were fortunate to attend a screening of the film Canvas at the Carriage House of the Governor’s Mansion on February 12, 2008.  The film, written and directed by Joseph Greco, tells the story of how a family and community are touched by the mental illness of  a mother diagnosed…

Looking Forward is written by a team of eight analysts from the Bell Policy Center, Colorado Children’s Campaign and Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute. They focused on the six-year study period of FY 2007-08 through FY 2012-13 — the last three years of the Referendum C time-out and the first three years of the new Ref…

Dear National Council Member:   We’d like to draw your attention to an article in today’s USA Today  “Report links higher rates of uninsured and suicide,” by Marilyn Elias at www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-11-28-healthcare-suicide_N.htm.   The article emphasizes a simple fact: access to quality mental health care saves and improves lives.   The National Council has responded to USA…

This week, the House and Senate approved legislation to delay the implementation of the new requirement that tamper-resistant prescription pads be used for all Medicaid prescriptions written after September 30, 2007 by six months.   The Patient and Pharmacy Protection Act of 2007 (S 2085), introduced in the Senate by Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and…

Final Bill Includes Six-Month Moratorium on New CMS Rules on Both Rehab Services Option and School-Based Services; Moves to Senate Later This Week.  Yesterday evening, the House approved legislation to reauthorize and expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by a vote of 265-159. Click here to view details on the National Council website.