[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 73 (Friday, April 16, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18922-18923]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-9530]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration


Grant Award to the Division of Mental Health and Developmental 
Disabilities, Department of Health and Social Services, State of Alaska

AGENCIES: Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), Center for 
Mental Health Services (CMHS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health 
Services Administration (SAMHSA), HHS.

ACTION: Availability of grant funds for the Division of Mental Health 
and Developmental Disabilities, Department of Health and Social 
Services, State of Alaska.

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SUMMARY: This notice is to inform the public that CSAT and CMHS are 
making available approximately $5,000,000 for an award in FY 1999 to 
the Division of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, 
Department of Health and Social Services, State of Alaska to support 
development, implementation, and evaluation of a comprehensive, 
seamless system of care for persons with co-occurring substance abuse 
(including alcohol and other drugs) and mental health disorders in 
Anchorage, Alaska, and its environs. CSAT and CMHS will make this award 
if the application is recommended for approval by the Initial Review 
Group and the CSAT and CMHS National Advisory Councils. This is not a 
formal request for applications; assistance will be provided only to 
the Alaska Division of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities.
    Eligibility for this program is limited to the State of Alaska, as 
specified in Congressional report language, in recognition of the 
primacy of its responsibility for, and interest in, providing for the 
needs of its citizens, and because the success of the program will 
depend upon the authority and ability to broadly coordinate the variety 
of resources essential for full program success. The State has 
committed itself to moving certain mental health services from their 
extant institutional bases to community bases, and, simultaneously, 
changing from parallel systems of service delivery--for substance abuse 
and mental health problems--to an approach designed to deliver services 
seamlessly to persons with comorbidity. Alaska needs a high level of 
systemic competence in delivering these services due, in great part, to 
its climate (resulting in deaths of homeless comorbid persons), and to 
the requirements of its proposed systems changes. The proposed project 
presents a unique opportunity for SAMHSA and its Centers to learn, 
first hand, how the transition from parallel systems to a seamless 
system of care can be accomplished in a small city in a rural/frontier 
State, and at what costs. The project promises to yield learnings on 
the factors and circumstances that facilitate and/or retard systemic 
change in complex treatment systems. This ``Anchorage Comorbidity 
Services'' project is also part of SAMHSA's commitment to improving 
services, and relates directly to the resolution unanimously adopted by 
its National Advisory Council earlier this year.
    Funding from CSAT and CMHS will support some services to persons 
with co-occurring disorders; continuing planning, review, management, 
and infrastructure development for the

[[Page 18923]]

effort; and a tripartite evaluation of the project, including process, 
outcome, and impact evaluations. This is a unique opportunity to 
evaluate significant change in a State system of care for persons with 
co-occurring disorders.

    Authority: The award will be made under the authority of Section 
501(d)(5) of the Public Health Service Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 
290aa). The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number for 
this program is 93.230.

CONTACT: Edith Jungblut, Public Health Advisor, Division of Practice 
and Systems Development, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, SAMHSA, 
Rockwall II, 7th floor, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857, (301) 
443-6669; or Dr. Lawrence Rickards, Public Health Advisor, Division of 
Knowledge Development and Systems Change, Center for Mental Health 
Services, SAMHSA, Parklawn Building 11C-05, 5600 Fishers Lane, 
Rockville, MD 20857, (301) 443-3707.

    Dated: April 12, 1999.
Richard Kopanda,
Executive Officer, SAMHSA.
[FR Doc. 99-9530 Filed 4-15-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4162-20-P