Behavioral Health Management articles from July 2002

Behavioral Health Management archives from July 2002

Compliance: are we really up to speed? (Editorial).
July 1, 2002... Does your organization have a compliance program? My colleagues recently asked hundreds of provider organizations and learned that many do not. Why? Many behavioral health executives believe corporate compliance does not apply to them. This...

Drug policy: time to "just say no" to punishment? (Washington Insights).
July 1, 2002... Not very long ago, John Walters was one of the most vocal critics of Washington's alleged "softness" in addressing drug possession. Walters testified before Congress during the 1990s that the Clinton administration had practiced "de facto...

HIPAA's big hit on IT planning. (Technology Solutions).(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)
July 1, 2002... No one is quite sure exactly what the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) will mean for behavioral health organizations specifically. Most executives of provider and payer organizations do, however, have concerns about...

Managed care: at the heart of parity: parity legislation relies on managed behavioral health for success, but could parity also be the death of managed care? (Cover Story).(proposed expansion of the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996)
July 1, 2002... Uncomfortable heart palpitations--a reason for a patient to worry if he has no health insurance. Perhaps even a reason to worry if he has health insurance. As members of the behavioral health community are all too aware, a heart disease...

Post-crisis stress debriefings: more harm than good? Recent experience points up several issues to be resolved. (Feature Article).
July 1, 2002... Post 9/11, we now have enough perspective to as ourselves: Do post-crisis stress debriefings do more harm than good, or are they a viable intervention? The answer is easy: Yes. All joking aside, it has been more than 15 years since Jeffrey...

Drawing attention to the mentally ill: NARSAD Artworks paints a different picture.(National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression)
July 1, 2002... Society often views the mentally ill as crazed and out of control, having little to offer the community. But behavioral health professionals see a different side. They see these people as human beings with normal feelings, hopes, dreams... and...

Accreditation: necessary or optional? Four key questions help define its relevance to your organization. (Cover Story).
July 1, 2002... There are myriad ways that a behavioral health organization can define and assess the quality of its services: meeting licensing and certification requirements, observing clinical standards and measurable outcomes, applying performance...

Treatment considerations for pedophilia: recent headlines aside, this disorder has long confronted the behavioral healthcare community with difficult challenges. (Feature Article).
July 1, 2002... In recent months, child molestation and pedophilia have come to the forefront of media coverage. The reported cases of child sexual abuse, as perpetrated by adults in authority positions, have given rise to a renewed public fear and have...

After managed care: throwing out the baby with the bath water? Managed care wasn't all bad, and The Next Great Idea might benefit from its example. (Feature Article).
July 1, 2002... A number of years ago I wrote an editorial for Behavioral Health Management commenting on the promise and potential problems of behavioral managed care. Predictably, the promise fell short, but the problems did not. Now, another turn in the...

IT procurement: more than features and functions: you should look to your vendors for solutions, not just hardware and software. (Feature Article).(information technology)
July 1, 2002... It is difficult, if not impossible, for the public to accept that the human service industry, which deals daily with human lives and consumes millions of taxpayers' dollars, cannot know more about the people it serves. People have expressed...

NCCBH publications. (Product Spotlight).(National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare publishes "Corporate Compliance Manual for Behavioral Healthcare Providers " and "How to Deliver Accountable Care: How Behavioral Healthcare Organizations Can Meet the Increased Level of External Accountability Requirements")(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Two new publications are available from the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare. Corporate Compliance Manual for Behavioral Healthcare Providers is designed to assist in the documentation, development and implementation of...

Therapy session time management. (Product Spotlight).(Invisible Clock)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... The Invisible Clock allows therapists to eliminate their disconcerting peeks at the clock during sessions by tracking time with silent vibration signals. A therapist can set the Meeting Timer to the session time so that it will vibrate at the...

Book series. (Product Spotlight).(Essentials of Interviewing)(first volume in the Essentials of Mental Health Practice series)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Wiley has published the first three books of its new Essentials of Mental Health Practice series, providing information to help mental health professionals practice knowledgably, efficiently and ethically. Essentials of Interviewing helps...

Patient care involvement. (Product Spotlight).(Speak Up program from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Speak Up, a program sponsored by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), encourages individuals to become active, involved and informed participants in their care, treatment or services. The program's simple...

HIPAA: it just won't go away. (Views From The Trenches).(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)
July 1, 2002... Tom Gordon's classic book, P.E.T.: Parent Effectiveness Training, popped into my mind the other day after I spoke with several behavioral health managers confused about HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996)....