Juvenile Justice Working Group Airs Interim Recommendations for System Reform

Talks on improving Ohio's juvenile justice system continue to be a point of focus for the Ohio Department of Youth Services.

A working group of experts formed by Governor Mike DeWine in November has spent the past four months examining and identifying holes in the system that need filling. One big topic Thursday morning was the number of juvenile facilities and staffing numbers. The four buckets that the group focused on were behavior health, safety and staffing, population intake, and re-entry support. Group members brainstormed resolutions to possibly solve various issues they have identified.

One member expressed that if we have more employees and smaller, specialized facilities available for juveniles, we can solve the issue of repeat offenders and accommodate the appropriate help each teen may need. Another member recommended a deeper focus on "individual mental health help." She says current programs don't offer that support, as they focus on group settings, and that those current practices are not a "safe space" for juveniles to discuss things that may be held against them, especially with gang activity present nearby.

"Obviously this is an area near and dear to the governor's heart, and it has been since day one of his administration, and even before he was governor," said Tom Stickrath, Chair of the Juvenile Justice Working Group. The group also announced that the national, nonprofit State Government Justice Center will be hosting a youth summit here in Ohio, as one of the three state chosen. The exact location and dates of the summit will be released soon.

The Ohio Council Welcomes New Member Provider, Restoring Hope Recovery Care!

Restoring Hope Recovery Care in South Point, OH - Kendsey Walker, Executive Director, can be reached at [email protected] or by phone at (740) 451-0307.

Restoring Hope Recovery Care is a 2.5 & 2.1 SUD group providing case management, individual, and nursing services in Lawrence County. Their mission is to empower individuals to find hope in recovery and embrace life unchained. Through compassionate care, evidence-based treatment, and a supportive community, they guide each person towards lasting healing and a renewed sense of purpose. 

For more information, click here. 

Biden Administration Unveils $22B Plan to Tackle Opioid Epidemic, Boost Substance Abuse Treatment

The Biden-Harris administration’s proposed budget for 2025 includes substantial funding to support access to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment and prevention. The proposed budget aims to build upon these efforts by allocating $21.8 billion to combat the surge in overdose deaths nationwide. The budget allocates substantial resources specifically to combat the opioid overdose crisis, building upon the administration’s previous initiatives, such as encouraging housing providers to stock opioid overdose reversal drugs like Narcan.

A fact sheet released by the White House about the budget touted Biden’s elimination of the X-Waiver – this move increased the number of providers who can initiate opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment from 129,000 to almost two million.

The new budget includes plans to increase access to OUD care even further, with $21.8 billion allocated to SUD treatment and recovery, includes a requirement for insurers to have an adequate network of behavioral health providers. It also strengthens the Department of Labor’s (DOL) ability to enforce mental health and SUD requirements among large group market health plans. Finally, the proposal would increase funding for the State Opioid Response grant program, which was designed to provide states with resources to improve access to medications for the treatment of OUD (MOUD), prevention, harm reduction and treatment services for SUDs.

UnitedHealth Group has Paid More than $2 Billion to Providers Following Cyberattack

UnitedHealth Group said Monday that it’s paid out more than $2 billion to help health-care providers who have been affected by the cyberattack on subsidiary Change Healthcare.

Change Healthcare offers e-prescription software and tools for payment management, so the interruptions left many providers temporarily unable to fill medications or get reimbursed for their services by insurers.

UnitedHealth, which provides care for 152 million people, said on Monday that it began releasing medical claims preparation software, which will be available to thousands of customers in the next several days. The company called it “an important step in the resumption of services.”

On Friday, UnitedHealth said it restored Change Healthcare’s electronic payments platform, after rebooting 99% of its pharmacy network services earlier this month. It also introduced a temporary funding assistance program to help health-care providers experiencing cash flow trouble because of the attack.

UnitedHealth said the advances will not need to be repaid until claims flows return to normal. Federal agencies like the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have introduced additional options to ensure that states and other stakeholders can make interim payments to providers, according to a release.

A survey published by the American Hospital Association on Friday found that 94% of hospitals have experienced financial disruptions from the Change Healthcare attack. More than 60% of the 1,000 hospitals surveyed estimated the revenue hit to be around $1 million per day. Responses were collected between March 9 and March 12.

UnitedHealth hasn’t disclosed what kind of data was compromised in the attack, or whether it cooperated with the cyber threat actor in order to restore systems. The company said it’s been working closely with law enforcement and third parties like Palo Alto Networks and Google Cloud’s Mandiant to assess the breach.