The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed and signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010. This historic piece of legislation has many innovative, exciting and complex pieces that are currently being implemented or soon will be implemented.

In an effort to help keep all of this information straight and inform States, Tribes, providers, consumers and advocacy organizations, SAMHSA has held a series of webinars this fall. SAMHSA’s fall webinar series, titled Health Reform 101, has focused on helping people understand basic concepts of health reform.

So if you want to learn something about health reform and were unable to catch the webinars the first time there is no need to worry, just visit SAMHSA’s health reform webinar page to view the slides from past webinars; topics include health insurance exchanges, high-risk pools, electronic health records, health homes for children and adults, a roadmap for states, and the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. Review the slides and learn about:

• SAMHSA’s new Primary and Behavioral Health Care Integration (PBHCI) program
• Roles of state health insurance exchanges under Affordable Care Act (ACA), what type of products will be offered in exchanges, and what steps states need to take to launch an exchange by 2014
• Behavioral health parity regulations, the implications on the field, and the processes that should be used to address problems that may occur in its implementation
• Electronic health records, how privacy is impacted through the adoption of electronic health records and what other information both providers and consumers need to know
• Important milestones in the ACA and strategies States can take to ensure they are ready for health reform implementation

Thank you for all the great participation. We are developing some exciting topics for SAMHSA’s winter webinar series, so be sure to look out for more webinars in the near future.

If you are looking for some great information on health reform and behavioral health, check out SAMHSA’s health reform page. There you will find links to reports, grant opportunities and timelines. For general information on the Affordable Care Act and information on how you, your family or friends can get health coverage be sure to visit the amazingly helpful and interactive healthcare.gov. And remember if you don’t see a resource that you think would be helpful, let us know!