News

September 12, 2023 On Friday, September 8, 2023, Governor Phil Murphy swore in New Jersey Secretary of State Tahesha L. Way, JD, as Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey, just over a month after the passing of Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver. Way's appointment became effective immediate...

September 11, 2023 On September 7, 2023, Stockton University's William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy published research analyzing the wide-ranging impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on New Jersey residents' mental health, treatment, and outcomes, involving numerous mental health is...

September 7, 2023 In the week of August 20 to August 26, 2023, COVID-19 hospitalizations across the U.S. have increased by 15.7% compared to the prior week , with a 17.6% increase in COVID-19 deaths across the same time, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Pr...

August 31, 2023 As signed into law under the Inflation Reduction Act, over the next four years, Medicaid will negotiate prices for up to 60 drugs covered under Medicare Part D and Part B, and up to an additional 20 drugs every year...

August 29, 2023 The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA's) Homeless & Housing Resource Center (HHRC) has shared a fact sheet on Xylazine basics, providing information on overdose prevention, harm reduction, wound care, and more Xylazine, also know...

August 24, 2023 The New Jersey Department of Children and Families (DCF) has shared a notice of the CVS Health Foundation issuing a call for applications for its 2023 Centering Youth Mental Health grant program. The Centering Youth Mental Health grant program is a multi-year phila...

NJCounts is the annual Point-in-Time (PIT) Count of individuals and families experiencing homelessness in New Jersey, required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), directed by the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA), and managed by Monarch Hou...

August 10, 2023 On Wednesday, August 7, 2023, New Jersey Department of Human Services (DHS) Commissioner Sarah Adelman announced the launch of StopOverdoses.nj.gov, a resource for New Jersey residents to locate pharmacies providing naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal agent, free...

August 3, 2023 On Monday, July 31, 2023, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) initiated a lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group, alleging that the healthcare provider improperly denied thousands of patients' payments for emergency room services and urinary drug screenings. The...

July 27, 2023 On July 25, 2023, Governor Phil Murphy announced his intention to nominate Kaitlan Baston, MD, MSc, DFASAM, as the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Health (DOH). Dr. Baston will assume the role in August of this year, following the recently announced upcomin...

July 25, 2023 On July 24th, the Department of Human Services (DHS), Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services (DMAHS) and Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) hosted a kick-off of the behavioral health carve-in implementation, which will take place over th...

July 24, 2023 Judith Persichilli, who has served as the New Jersey State Health Commissioner since August 5, 2019, will retire next month, as reported by NJ Advance Media, published in the July 21st edition of The Star Ledger. Her tenure included supervising New Jersey's response to...

Yesterday, NJAMHAA staff and several partners testified before the Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund Advisory Council, reinforcing the need for education and increased access to the full continuum of prevention, harm reduction and treatment services, as well as a statewide health infor...

Nationwide, there is an estimated shortage of nearly 4.5 million behavioral health providers to meet the level of need, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA's) Behavioral Health Workforce Report, 2020. This dearth in the behavioral health wo...

Judith Persichilli, who has served as the New Jersey State Health Commissioner since August 5, 2019, will retire next month, as reported by NJ Advance Media, published in today's edition of The Star Ledger. Her tenure included supervising New Jersey's response to the COVID-19 pandemic...

July 20, 2023 On Monday, July 17, 2023, Governor Phil Murphy signed S3864 into law, establishing the New Jersey Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Authority, as well as appropriating money to open a state Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Center in Trenton. The Authority w...

July 18, 2023 On Thursday, July 13, 2023, Governor Phil Murphy signed A3334 into law, which requires Medicaid reimbursement for covered behavioral health services provided by local education agencies to students who are eligible Medicaid beneficiaries. Governor Murphy was quoted ...

July 13, 2023 On July 7, 2023, Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Xavier Becerra renewed the determination that an opioid public health emergency (PHE) exists nationwide. The opioid PHE was first declared on October 26, 2017 by former HHS ...

Summary of FY2024 Budget Bill Click here to read NJAMHAA's summary of the Legislature's FY2024 budget bill. As noted in the document, the bill will be voted on today and sent to the Governor to sign by midnight. NJAMHAA will provide an update after the Governor signs the bi...

June 29, 2023 A new annual budget is constitutionally due in New Jersey by July 1st. In the case that a budget bill is not passed before then, the state government is required to shut down until a spending plan in enacted. The New ...