Behavioral Health Management articles from January 2005

Behavioral Health Management archives from January 2005

Making 2005 the year of technology.(Editorial)
January 1, 2005... Now that all the gifts have been opened and our bellies have been stuffed with holiday treats, we need to consider what the New Year brings behavioral health professionals. As information technology (IT) advances each year, we need to recognize...

Mental health/justice collaboration receives bare-bones reform.(Washington Insights)
January 1, 2005... In October, President Bush signed the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2004. The legislation purports to address the rapidly growing problem of "criminalized" mental health systems. As discussed in previous columns,...

Community Mental Health principles: a 40-year case study.(In Retrospect)
January 1, 2005... By the time Congress had passed the Community Mental Health Centers (CMHC) Act of 1963, community-based services for people with serious mental illnesses were in place in several locations around Missouri, and more were planned for the future....

Evidence-based practice meets IT: behavioral health's future: technology- and evidence-empowered treatment is on the horizon even as clinicians debate its value and IT vendors wonder about their role.(Cover Story)
January 1, 2005... A New Yorker was complaining to his friend about his experience with psychoanalysis. "No matter what I do, I can't get it right," the man said. "If I'm early to a session, my analyst tells me I'm anxious. If I'm late, he tells me I'm avoidant....

A CMHC's path toward a new IT system: a case study of how an Indiana CMHC partnered with a vendor to upgrade its software and work-flow processes.
January 1, 2005... Information technology (IT) implementation at a mental health center poses many challenges. Managing the process, assuaging staff fears, working with a software vendor--all of this and more must be accomplished before the system can be used. In...

Evaluating children for bipolar disorder: symptoms similar to ADHD make the diagnostic process critical.
January 1, 2005... Perhaps no area in child psychiatryprovides as much debate and clinical interest as the accurate diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder (BPD) in children and adolescents. Part of the controversy involves the substantial overlap of BPD and...

Community behavioral health's newest leader looks ahead: NCCBH's new president and CEO, Linda Rosenberg, aims to ensure that community-based providers of mental health and substance abuse services have a place at the national table.(National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare)
January 1, 2005... Quality services require investing in providers and practitioners"--that's the message Linda Rosenberg, MSW, CSW, is taking to Washington in her new role as president and CEO of the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare (NCCBH),...

Using patient transportation to drive programming success: interview with Dave Van, Executive Director, Mississippi Region 8 mental health, mental retardation commission.(Interview)
January 1, 2005... When Ronald David "Dave" Van, Jr., assumed leadership of the Region 8 Mental Health, Mental Retardation Commission in Brandon, Mississippi, in 1997, the agency was in serious debt and serving approximately 1,200 consumers. Since then, Region...

An MBHO's approach to patient transportation: Magellan helps clients move from point A to point B to improve outcomes.(Managed Behavioral Healthcare Organizations)
January 1, 2005... Any professional in the public-sector behavioral healthcare field can tell you that working with the Medicaid population presents a unique set of challenges. In contrast to individuals with private insurance, consumers within this group suffer...

Proposition 63: California's mental health miracle: interview with Sandra Naylor Goodwin, PhD, Executive Director, California Institute for Mental Health.(Interview)
January 1, 2005... At a time when public mental healthcare budgets are becoming squeezed by cost-cutting pressures, and public programs in general are mortally threatened by America's tax phobia, California has moved in the opposite direction. In a stunning...

Lessons learned in developing school-based mental health services: an award-winning California agency shares the concepts behind its successful program.
January 1, 2005... The Child and Family Center of Santa Clarita, California, (C&FC) has been fortunate to have its innovative program for school-based child mental health recognized not only at the local level, but nationally. At 2004's National Council for...

Medicare prospective payment comes to psychiatric hospitals: the long-awaited medicare prospective payment system is up and running.
January 1, 2005... In the November 15, 2004, Federal Register, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the final rule on the long-awaited, congressionally mandated inpatient psychiatric prospective payment system (PPS). (The rule and background...

Meriter hospital--child and adolescent building: Madison, Wisconsin.(Facility Design Showcase)
January 1, 2005... When Meriter Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, decided to close one hospital campus, hospital management relocated the 18-bed child and adolescent psychiatric program to a new building. Designed by HGA, this 20,000-gross-square- foot psychiatric...

Moral issues' flip side.(As I See It)(same sex marriage, abortion)
January 1, 2005... Religious conservatives motivated by moral concerns helped secure George W. Bush's reelection. Many were worried about the possibility that gay marriage eventually would be sanctioned in their states or even nationally. Another issue that...

Looking for today's behavioral health champions.(As I See It)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Behavioral Health Management is looking for "champions": organizational managers, public policymakers, and patient advocates who have made important--and memorable--contributions to behavioral healthcare. We're looking especially for inspiring...

Integrated reporting solutions.(Product Spotlight)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... iCentrix Corp. provides real-time management reporting systems to assist executives and directors in accomplishing goals for managing their organization. Designed to extract data from any enterprise system and using a centralized database as...

Benchmarking services.(Product Spotlight)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Behavioral Pathway Systems (BPS) provides benchmarking, performance measurement, outcomes management, ORYX reporting services, and consultation to the behavioral health industry. BPS makes a comprehensive range of behavioral health benchmarks...

Maximum software RFP distribution.(Product Spotlight)(Request For Papers)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Contact the major companies of the behavioral health software industry in one e-mail. Send your information-technology-related RFPs to the Software and Technology Vendors' Association (SATVA) for posting on its Web site's members-only page....

Software update.(Product Spotlight)(billing and management)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... ClaimTrak Systems, Inc. (ClaimTrak[R]), a provider of client management and billing software for behavioral healthcare and social service providers, has announced some of the enhancements and key functions to be included in the 2005 Tri-1...

State standards for counselors and prevention professionals.(Product Spotlight)(A National Review of State Alcohol and Drug Treatment Programs and Certification Standards for Substance Abuse Counselors and Prevention Professionals)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... SAMHSA has released A National Review of State Alcohol and Drug Treatment Programs and Certification Standards for Substance Abuse Counselors and Prevention Professionals. The publication contains a national overview of state-by-state...

Silver Ribbon campaign for the brain.(Product Spotlight)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... The Silver Ribbon is the official symbol for promoting public awareness of the need for support of people with brain disorders and disabilities; the Silver Ribbon Campaign for the Brain was founded in 1993 by Jean Singleton Liechty, JD. Wearing...

Selling the ECR to the right people--the clinicians.(Views On Technology)(electronic clinical record)
January 1, 2005... Clinical and continuous quality improvement (CQI) staff members are often suspicious when they receive their human services organization's most recent update on its electronic clinical record system (ECR). Whether the organization is purchasing...

Of expensive disorders and bargain solutions.(Views From The trenches)(health care costs)
January 1, 2005... Fast Company is a relatively new magazine competing for young Business-Week readers, so it sometimes publishes quickly digestible sidebar statistics to drive home its story lines. Its December 2004 issue ran a statistical sidebar that compiled...