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AFSP/SPAN USA's
2010 Legislative Institute
March 8-9
Embassy Suites Alexandria, VA

The public's involvement in educating members of the U.S. House and Senate on key issues is critical to the success of AFSP/SPAN USA's efforts to strengthen advocacy and to promote policies and legislation that impact suicide and prevention.

This valuable training institute will inform participants so that they can better articulate AFSP/SPAN USA's public policy agenda as they share their own personal and professional experiences in suicide prevention with their members of Congress.

Click here to download the registration and hotel information for this institute. Early registration (before Feb. 12) is $75. The registration fee after Feb. 12 is $125.

Your Registration fee includes:

• Customized conference call with AFSP/SPAN USA Public Policy staff for information and advice on setting up your congressional appointments
• All conference materials
• Lunch both Monday, March 8, and Tuesday, March 9
• Group bus service to the Hill on Tuesday morning, March 9

Hotel room costs include:

• Full breakfast both Monday and Tuesday
• Hotel manager’s reception Monday evening
• Please feel free to call the AFSP/SPAN USA Public Policy staff in Washington, D.C., at (202) 449-3600 with any questions you may have.

The institute agenda is being finalized and will be available on the AFSP and SPAN USA websites, and sent to all conference registrants. The conference is scheduled to end at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 9. The Friends for Life Reception originally planned for March 9 has been rescheduled for Tuesday, April 27.

This conference has been funded in part by the Suicide Prevention Resource Center and AFSP's Out of the Darkness walks.

Health Reform Moves in the Senate

On December 24, 2009, the United States Senate approved by a vote of 60 to 39 the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act (H.R. 3590).  House and Senate conference members will now have to work out differences between the House and Senate version after the New Year. AFSP/SPAN USA Public Policy staff is in the process of reviewing the Senate bill to determine where there are differences/similarities with the House bill.

House Health Reform Bill Includes Suicide Prevention Priorities

In May of 2009 AFSP/SPAN USA called for health reform legislation to include certain priorities that would lead to a reduction in suicide and suicide attempts in America.  We were pleased that the majority of our priorities were included in the House bill, the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962) approved by a vote of 220 to 215 on November 7, 2009.

AFSP/SPAN USA called for health reform to ensure equitable and adequate coverage and reimbursement for mental health and substance use services. H.R.3962 ensures such coverage by: including behavioral health services as part of a minimum benefits package offered by insurance plans; requiring mental health and substance use parity in any new insurance market, including plans covering individual and group markets (an extension of the parity law passed last year); and extending a young adult’s ability to be covered by his/her parents’ insurance plan until age 27.

Our second priority was for health reform to provide better access to mental health checkups in order to identify mental health and substance use disorders, as well as suicide risk. H.R.3962 significantly increases the likelihood that an individual will have a mental health or substance use disorder identified early by: creating a new grant program that funds screening, brief intervention, referral, and treatment for mental health and substance abuse disorders; waiving the cost-sharing requirement for preventative screenings by patients in various health insurance plans, including Medicaid; encouraging better screening for postpartum depression; and providing grants to small businesses to conduct wellness programs that often include screening for depression.

Our third priority was for health reform to adequately reimburse for care coordination so that suicide attempt survivors and individuals with serious mental illness do not drop out of care and their physical and mental health care specialists communicate with each other. H.R.3962 would achieve this by encouraging health care professionals to work together by: funding patient-centered medical home pilot programs in Medicaid and Medicare, and providing additional funding to specific hospitals to expand their transitional care (e.g., from the emergency room to outpatient services).

Finally, AFSP/SPAN USA called for health reform to include an extension of the National Violent Death Reporting System to all fifty states. H.R.3962 does not specifically extend NVDRS to all 50 states, but it does provide funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as state, local, or tribal health departments to meet core public health infrastructure needs, which may include data infrastructure systems such as NVDRS.