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Model Interdisciplinary Collaborative Statewide (Inter-State) Projects in Integrated Medicine Rationale for this Proposal: This proposal is a result of two confluent influences: The first was the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW) announcement of their release of their FY 2016 Funding Opportunity for the 2016 Academic Units for Primary Care Training and Enhancement program (AU-PCTE, HRSA-16-041- The RFP for this grant is on the Discussion Board in the Integrate Medicine Community as is the PDF of their PowerPoint given at their Technical Assistance Webinar). Then I attended HRSA’s Technical ...

The Michigan Mental Health Counselors Association (MMHCA) held its 2015 Conference in East Lansing Michigan on the campus of Michigan State University. The conference was entitled: Integrative Care in the Mental Health Field-Applying Theory to Practice. There was a Keynote address by Jim Messina, Moderator of the Integrated Medicine Community on AMHCA Connection entitled: Opportunities for Mental Health Counselors in the Next Decade under the ACA (which PowerPoint you can download from Coping.us at: http://coping.us/behavioralmedicine/affordablecareactimplications.html ) Jim’s presentation was then followed by a powerful program on Integrated Care: ...

Behavioral Medicine and the Affordable Care Act By Rick Richert, Graduate Student Troy University The Society of Behavioral Medicine (2015) describes behavioral medicine as “the interdisciplinary field concerned with the development and integration of behavioral, psychosocial, and biomedical science knowledge and techniques relevant to the understanding of health and illness, and the application of this knowledge and these techniques to prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation” (Sbm.org, 2015). King (2013) pointed out that the United States (US) was ranked 28th in life expectancy at birth, yet was one of the top health care spenders in the ...

You now know why I have chosen the title “We are One !” for these four blogs. The answer of course is that CMHC’s who become Behavioral Health Consultants on integrated primary care teams will be One with those teams. There has a source of direction for us in the mental health field with the role out of the ICD-10 Codes and the DSM-5 come October 1, 2015. That is that these codes and diagnostic tools have prepared for us tools to use in integrated medicine: Integrated Behavioral Medicine Specialty Focus in the DSM-5 and the ICD-10 To begin with let's define what Behavioral Medicine is so that we can be One with this definition: Behavioral ...

Are we One in our acceptance of the impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on the way clinical mental health counselors will be working a decade from now? First let’s look at the ACA so that we can become one in our understanding and acceptance of the reality that it will bring to our profession. The ACA was signed into law to reform the health care industry by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010 and upheld twice by the Supreme Court on June 28, 2012 and on June 25, 2015. It is "the law of the land,“ even though many people would like to see it repealed and are still not willing to accept it or refine it The ACA’s official name is the Patient Protection ...

Urban and rural mental health counselors need to demonstrate Oneness! 77 percent of U.S. counties have a severe shortage of mental health workers , according to the SAMSHA’ s 2013 Report to Congress on the Nation’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Workforce Issues . This shortage is most common in counties with low per capita income and in rural areas. This is relevant to us Mental health Counselors because our membership recruitment efforts in each of our states too often overlooks both rural and impoverished counties. In Florida only one third of the 67 counties had FMHCA members. What about the other counties? Are there no mental health ...

We are One "We are One" is my motto for my work with AMHCA and FMHCA (Florida Mental Health Counselors for which I am their Board Treasurer). We are all one no matter what state or region of the country we come from. We are one as we begin to get out to our grassroots membership to get them psyched up for the inclusion of mental health counselors into primary medical settings. We are one in our pursuit of Medicare coverage for Clinical Mental Health Counselors. As one, we need to... Create one voice to tell all the folks we can that yes CMHC's need to be included in the provider list for Medicare. Our community here on AMHCA Connections ...