LEGAL ACTION CENTER

Need-to-Know News: March 16, 2012

March 16, 2012

The 2012 edition of our highly acclaimed "Confidentiality and Communication: A Guide to the Federal Alcohol and Drug Confidentiality Law and HIPAA" is now available for pre-order at a discount. Follow this link for more on the updates, including a new section on electronic health records. Place your order before April 1 using the discount code NEWSCC12 to get 10% off the $109.99 cover price.
State Policy Director Tracie Gardner and HIRE Director Roberta Meyers-Peeples will present “Albany Up Close and Personal" at the March 21 meeting of the Reentry Roundtable at the Community Service Society in New York. Follow this link to read more.

State

An amendment on redistricting passed by state legislators this week makes no mention of a new law mandating that incarcerated individuals be counted where they live, not where they are incarcerated.

National

In a new study highlighting the importance of treatment and prevention, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) reports that substance use disorders cost U.S. employers $276 billion a year.
Researchers say a new study on fruit flies and alcohol sheds some light on mechanisms in the brain that support addiction.
At a press luncheon this week, former Congressmen Patrick Kennedy and Jim Ramstad turned the spotlight on the need for better implementation of the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, landmark legislation they co-sponsored to eliminate a discriminatory policy that has kept individuals from receiving critically important care for addiction.
The Department of Health and Human Services released rules this week governing states' creation of new health insurance exchanges as part of healthcare reform.
With criminal justice reform an increasingly popular topic, chief justices in several states -- including New York, Alaska, Georgia and Missouri -- have recently advised their legislatures on ways to cut costs and increase public safety.
The National Association of Attorneys General sent a letter to Congress this week urging no further cuts to the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant program, which provides aide for anticrime programs, including alternatives to incarceration.

The Sentencing Project has released "The Lives of Juvenile Lifers: Findings from a National Survey." The report, based on the experiences of 1,579 individuals around the country, found high rates of socioeconomic disadvantage, extreme racial disparities in sentencing and counterproductive corrections policies that thwart efforts at rehabilitation.
The first National Rx Drug Abuse Summit will be held April 10-12 in Orlando. For more information, follow this link.
The National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare will hold its annual conference April 15-17 in Chicago. Use this link to read more or register.