NY behavioral health providers to receive funding to develop tech infrastructure; Walgreens to update website with more mental health resources;

News From Around the Web

> More than 120 behavioral health providers that offer children's services across New York will each receive close to $50,000 to improve develop their technological infrastructure, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced this week. The funding will go toward the purchase of electronic health record or billing software, servers to support database systems and other hardware, as well as education on how to use the new tools. Announcement

Practice Management News

> With about 1 in 5 Americans each year affected by mental health conditions--more than heart disease or diabetes--Walgreens is now expanding mental health services, including access to 1,000 therapists and psychiatrists via a telemedicine company. Article

> Motivational interviewing, which is often used in addiction medicine to get buy-in from patients to change their behavior, can also be used by primary care physicians to help their patients change unhealthy behaviors from poor diet to lack of exercise, according to Auguste Fortin VI, M.D., of the Yale School of Medicine. Article

Health Insurance News

> House Republicans say a federal health official intentionally misled Congress when he said the government had recovered $200 million worth of state-based exchange grant money--a claim the Obama administration disputes. Article

> Cigna announced a value-based contract with two pharmaceutical companies that would alter the price of a new class of cholesterol drugs based on how patients respond to the medication. Article

And Finally... And to think, he still has eight more lives left. Article