The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced the formation of a new federal interagency initiative to better address serious mental illness across the nation. The Interdepartmental Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee (ISMICC) was created under the 21st Century Cures Act to foster coordination of all federal efforts related to serious mental illness. SAMHSA is responsible for managing the ISMICC. The committee will be comprised of representatives from federal government agencies as well as members of the public. SAMHSA issued a notice in the Federal Register calling nominations for non-federal committee members to be submitted by June 2, 2017. Full Story

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and drugstore chain Walgreens announced a collaborative agreement, which will help improve mental health care for Veterans through enhanced education, access to resources and outreach.  VA, VFW and Walgreens will work together to reach Veterans in communities across the country with targeted initiatives to address mental health awareness and treatment, Veteran suicide prevention and opioid overdose education. Full Story

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is accepting applications for Cooperative Agreements to Implement Zero Suicide in Health Systems. The purpose of these cooperative agreements is to implement suicide prevention and intervention programs, for individuals who are 25 years of age or older, that are designed raise awareness of suicide, establish referral processes and improve care and outcomes for such individuals who are at risk for suicide. SAMHSA expects to fund up to 13 grantees with up to $700,000 per year for up to 5 years. The actual award amount may vary, depending on the availability of funds. Full Story

In a recent webinar, Dr. Cristina Cusin addresses Ketamine, an anesthetic drug that in very small doses has been shown to relieve symptoms of depression within hours—even in patients who did not improve with other treatments. Ketamine has not been approved by the FDA for the treatment of depression. Full Story

The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC) recently added traumatic brain injury (TBI) network sites at Fort Gordon, GA; Fort Drum, NY; and at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System in San Antonio, TX. These sites help DVBIC spread the word among the military community about the latest in TBI research and treatment according to DVBIC deputy director Katherine Helmick. Full Story

One third or more of adults diagnosed with major depression have depression with mixed features and probably would do better taking an antipsychotic than an antidepressant, concludes an international panel of experts. For patients with a major depressive episode (MDE) with mixed features (depression with some mania), antidepressants typically "don't work or might make the patient worse and could even induce mania itself or suicidality," Stephen M. Stahl, MD, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, and chairman, Neuroscience Education Institute in Carlsbad, California, told Medscape Medical News. Full Story

The Mood Challenge for ResearchKit announced that the winner of its $200,000 grand prize is BiAffect, a new study for understanding mood and neurocognitive functioning in bipolar disorder. The Challenge is a New Venture Fund program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and powered by Luminary Labs. BiAffect uses keystroke dynamics such as typing speed and errors and other passive data sources to track and predict mood episodes. Full Story

Winona State University, Rochester, MN, will offer a new psychiatric mental health program, reported the Post Bulletin. After the announcement that a local psychiatric inpatient unit closed, due to a lack of providers, WSU determined it would open a psychiatric-mental health Nurse Practitioner Graduate Certificate program. Full Story

The Alzheimer’s Association and the Alzheimer’s Impact Movement (AIM) are celebrating the announcement that Congress will pass a $400 million increase for Alzheimer’s research funding at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the FY2017 budget. Full Story

Nearly 750 more practitioners around the country are now equipped to help patients fight opioid addiction, thanks to two federal agencies, reported Becker's Hospital Review. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Drug Enforcement Administration have approved licenses for 560 nurse practitioners and 184 physician assistants to prescribe buprenorphine, an anti-addiction medication for opioids that helps repress cravings and withdrawal symptoms. Full Story

U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced the bipartisan Recognize, Assist, Include, Support, and Engage (RAISE) Family Caregivers Act. The RAISE Family Caregivers Act would direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop and sustain a national strategy to recognize and support the 43 million family caregivers in the United States. This bipartisan legislation has been endorsed by a number of aging and disability organizations including the AARP and the Alzheimer’s Association. Full Story

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock has signed a bill that allocates $1 million for suicide prevention over the next two years, reported The Washington Times. The bill allocates $250,000 to implement efforts to reduce Native American youth suicide and $250,000 in grant money to help schools implement suicide prevention programs. Another $500,000 would help fund ongoing efforts to prevent suicide including those carried out by veteran organizations and Native American groups. Full Story

The National Quality Forum's (NQF) recent endorsement of 11 quality measures of patient safety includes three measures developed by the Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) to address the use of opioids at high dosage or from multiple providers, with appropriate exclusions, including cancer patients. These are the first NQF-endorsed measures intended to address the nation’s devastating—and growing—opioid epidemic. Full Story

A new study from the June 2017 issue of The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety describes how Lean principles were applied to improve clinical operations at the Crisis Response Center, a behavioral health facility specializing in emergency psychiatric care, in Tucson, AZ. Lean methodology is defined as “a well-defined set of tools that increase customer value by eliminating waste and creating flow throughout the value system,” according to The Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare. Lean’s focus on the engagement of frontline staff in problem solving also is a common catalyst for organizational change. Full Story

The American Psychiatric Nurses Association is Accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the
American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.