CAI's Center of Excellence for Protected Health Information related to Behavioral Health - CAI’s Center of Excellence for Protected Health Information Related to Behavioral Health Cicatelli Associates, Inc (CAI) 505 Eighth Avenue, Suite 1900 New York, NY 10018 Michael Graziano, Project Director (212) 594-7741 mgraziano@caiglobal.org website: caiglobal.org funding requested: $1,000,000.00. Cicatelli Associates, Inc. (CAI), a national non-profit capacity building organization, in response to funding opportunity # TI-23-013 issued by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, proposes to serve as the Center of Excellence for Protected Information Related to Behavioral Health, in partnership with the nation’s foremost experts in the area of federal and state behavioral health privacy law, including the Legal Action Center and Network for Public Health Law. The proposed project will develop and deliver training, technical assistance and educational resources on relevant privacy statutes and regulations, and through a multi-pronged dissemination strategy, reach up to 20,000 behavioral health patients, family members, and providers of behavioral health services each year. In 2020, nearly 90 million American adults reported experiencing either a mental illness or a substance use disorder (SUD) and more than 6 million young people aged 12-17 had either a major depressive episode or SUD. In 2021, among the 57.8 million adults with any mental illness in the past year, only 47.2% received mental health services. The impact of the COVID pandemic has worsened existing behavioral health conditions, and increased substance use due to traumatic stress, unemployment, and social isolation, and has so strained the nation’s behavioral health system that providers are now confronted with unprecedented mental health and substance use crises. Mental health and substance use conditions are stigmatized and individuals may face discrimination if their treatment information is revealed, potentially preventing them from accessing needed services. CAI’s approach, structured yet flexible, is grounded in accurate interpretation of federal and state laws and regulations, applies federal plain language guidelines as well as adult learning principles and practices, and uses data to foster continuous improvement. Multi-modal strategies will engage target audiences including training (remote and face-to-face), e-learning, individualized technical assistance, and educational materials including issues briefs, FAQs, templates, and training curricula and guidance documents. We will utilize a specific set of strategies to reach individuals and families, address the needs of underserved populations, address privacy concerns related to use of technology for the provision of care and support the roll-out of newly funded initiatives to address national behavioral health priorities. Our approach is centered in empathy and partnerships that promote equitable access for individuals living with behavioral health disorders to help them attain the quality care they need and deserve to support their self-directed, long-term recovery.
