September 10, 2018
The monthly meeting of Association representatives with DMAS and DBHDS occurred earlier today and continues to be a good forum for discussion, sharing ideas and concerns and updates on the various initiatives currently underway. Notably, it was announced that the significant issue raised by some “Crisis Stab” providers about a change which occurred in the most recent edition of the Manual about the time frame for assessment, the qualifications of the individual who could do the assessment and the method of the assessment will be dealt with in a forthcoming memo. The time frame will be extended to 72 hours, the qualifications will be expanded to allow for Nurse Practitioners and Physician’s Assistants to complete the assessment and to allow all areas of the state to utilize tele-medicine. The memo will give exact language, but this appears to address the concerns that were raised!
We also discussed the Farley initiative and other activities – stay tuned!