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[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 99 (Tuesday, May 21, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25499-25500]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-12649]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Programmatic Supplement to the Cooperative Agreement With the 
National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors

AGENCY: Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), Substance Abuse and 
Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), HHS.

ACTION: Planned single-source supplemental award to assist State mental 
health, substance abuse, and Medicaid officials to develop pragmatic 
performance measures and outcome indicators for use in Medicaid managed 
behavioral health care contracting.

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SUMMARY: This notice is to provide information to the public concerning 
a planned programmatic supplement to an ongoing cooperative agreement 
between the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's 
(SAMHSA) Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) and the National 
Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD). The 
ongoing cooperative agreement funds the Technical Assistance Center for 
State Mental Health Planning. The programmatic supplement is being 
provided to address a need that arose from the recommendations of the 
SAMHSA Conference--Partnerships for Change. The conference highlighted 
national and State trends in organizing and financing public mental 
health and substance abuse care. Federal and State officials received 
strong encouragement to expand their collaboration across levels of 
government and between mental health, substance abuse, and Medicaid 
agencies to prepare for rapid changes in their roles, responsibilities, 
and funding. A particularly acute need identified was a core set of 
quality assurance and performance measures that public purchasers of 
managed behavioral health care services could use to monitor the new 
contracting mechanism. In the absence of a core set of measures, it is 
possible that persons with severe and persistent mental illnesses, 
chronic substance abuse disorders, and children and adolescents with 
serious emotional problems may be placed into managed care systems with 
inadequate safeguards and controls. In fact, the network of community-
based services that has been developed with great difficulty over the 
last three decades may be jeopardized if public sector managed care 
contracts lack essential performance standards and quality assurance 
guidelines.
    The NASMHPD Board of Directors, in close collaboration with the 
NASMHPD Research Institute, and the Boards of Directors of the National 
Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD) and the 
American Public Welfare Association (APWA), have all identified as 
their top mutual priority the development of performance measurement 
indicators that could be used by States that are letting contracts for 
Medicaid managed behavioral health care. NASMHPD, which represents the 
State mental health agencies in every State, has a long history of 
facilitating the voluntary collection of uniform mental health data 
across States. NASMHPD has worked with State mental health agencies and 
CMHS on the Mental Health Statistics Improvement Program (MHSIP) to 
foster the collection, analysis, and reporting of data which are useful 
for systems management, policy decisions, evaluation, performance 
assessment, and research in the States, as well as nationally. State 
health care reform efforts and the introduction of managed care 
financial arrangements have placed new demands on States for quality 
assurance and accountability information. NASMHPD's Technical 
Assistance Center cooperative agreement with CMHS represents a unique 
capacity that does not exist anywhere else. The NASMHPD Technical 
Assistance Center works closely with every State mental health agency. 
A supplement to the existing cooperative agreement will allow the 
NASMHPD Technical Assistance Center to develop a consensus among State 
mental health, substance abuse, and Medicaid agencies around the 
collection of information about managed care that can be used 
internally by States for quality assurance and contract monitoring 
purposes, while, at the same time, assuring cooperation across States 
so that data items and data collection procedures are uniform so that 
valid national and cross-state comparisons can be made. Therefore, 
SAMHSA's CMHS has determined that a supplement to the existing 
cooperative agreement with NASMHPD should be made to carry out this 
important work.
    This notice is not a request for applications; only NASMHPD is 
eligible to apply for the supplement to the existing cooperative 
agreement. If the NASMHPD supplemental application is recommended for 
approval by the Special Review Committee, funds will be made available.

    Authority: The programmatic supplement to the ongoing 
cooperative agreement will be made under the authority of Section 
1948(a)

[[Page 25500]]

of the Public Health Service Act, as amended (42 USC 300x-58).

AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS: The programmatic supplement will be for a 6-
month period with up to $80,000 total costs (direct and indirect costs) 
available for that period.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard J. Bast, CMHS Division of 
State and Community Development Systems, Room 15C-26 Parklawn Building 
(301-443-4257) or Eric Goplerud, SAMHSA Managed Care Initiative, Room 
12C-10 Parklawn Building (301-443-4456). The mailing address is: 5600 
Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20857.

    Dated: May 14, 1996.
Richard Kopanda,
Acting Executive Officer, SAMHSA.
[FR Doc. 96-12649 Filed 5-20-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4162-20-P
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