News

September 9, 2022 September Is National Suicide Prevention Month and National Recovery Month Across the nation, drastic shortages of mental healthcare and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment professionals have resulted in only about 28% of the need for these services being met,...

September 8, 2022 On September 7, 2022, a multi-state settlement agreement was reached between e-cigarette manufacturer JUUL and 34 states and territories within the U.S. The initial lawsuit filed against JUUL was led by Connecticut Attorney General William Tong. The suit alleged that...

September 7, 2022 As the school year is beginning around the State of New Jersey, most districts in the state have dropped their mask requirements for students and teachers, and have relaxed their COVID-19 guidelines, including those regarding testing. Nearly all school districts ha...

September 6, 2022 On Wednesday, August 31, 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration proposed a new rule to overhaul the enrollment processes for Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Basic Health Programs (BHPs), and eliminate arbitrary coverage caps for children ...

September 1, 2022 Staffing shortages are affecting many facets of life for New Jerseyans and Americans across the country. One of the latest impacts comes regarding childcare in the state. As stated in a report from Advocates for Children in New Jersey, a staffing shortage in chi...

August 29, 2022 In anticipation of the public health emergency ending, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is helping state governments, other partner organizations and current Medicaid/Children's Health Insurance ...

August 25, 2022 On Monday, Acting Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced that New Jersey, along with a coalition of state attorneys general, have reached an agreement in principle with opioid maker Endo International PLC for its role in the opioid crisis. The agreement would pr...

August 23, 2022 As reported in the National Council of Nonprofits' newsletter, nonprofit employees have a little over two months to take advantage of the temporary Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) waiver. The PSLF program forgives the balance of most federal student loans af...

August 22, 2022 The National Council for Wellbeing passed along the following important updates shared yesterday by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on the Certified Community Behavioral Health ...

August 18, 2022 On Monday, August 15, 2022, Governor Phil Murphy signed Executive Order No. 302, which lifts the requirements that school districts, childcare settings, and state contractors maintain a policy of requiring unvaccinated workers to undergo routine testing. It was disti...

August 16, 2022 On August 11, 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released updated and streamlined COVID-19 guidance. As stated on cdc.gov, new guidance includes that individuals exposed to COVID-19 regardless of vaccination status need not quarantine, but i...

August 15, 2022 On Wednesday, August 10, 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022 into law, amending various Veteran's Affairs (VA) authorities related to health care and benefits t...

August 11, 2022 A New Jersey Hospital Association (NJHA) analysis reviewed hospital claims data for both emergency department visits and inpatient admissions for individuals ages 12 to 17 from 2017 to 2021. This analysis found that the proportion of depression-related hospitalizati...

August 9, 2022 On Sunday, August 7, 2022, the United States Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (H.R.5376), sweeping legislation that addresses many Democratic priorities, such as health care, taxes, and climate action. The legislation was passed by a vote of 51 in favor...

August 8, 2022 On August 4th, the Biden Administration declared monkeypox a public health emergency as the number of confirmed cases in the country rises above 7,000. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, as of August 4th, there were a total of 7,102 c...

August 4, 2022 On Monday, Governor Phil Murphy signed into law A4047/3229, which requires each public school district in the state to develop threat assessment teams before the start of the new school year in September. The legislation aims to evaluate and intervene with students who...

August 2, 2022 "Degree Stigma" consists of requiring degrees and not focusing on candidates' skills or experience. Many employers demonstrate reluctance to relax traditional degree requirements, potentially due to their uncertainty on how to measure the value of alternative credential...

August 1, 2022 The Biden-Harris Administration recently announced two new actions to strengthen school-based mental health services and address the youth mental health crisis, in support of the strategies laid out in the President's comprehensive national mental health strategy. ...

August 1, 2022 On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 4040 - Advancing Telehealth Beyond COVID-19 Act of 2021 - by a vote of 416 in favor and 12 in opposition. This bill would make permanent several telehealth flexibilities under Medicare that were initially aut...

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced today the launch of its newly enhanced Nursing Home Five-Star Quality Rating System, which integrates data nursing homes report on their weekend staffing rates for nurses, and information on annual turnover among nurses and ...