Behavioral Health Management articles from July 2003

Behavioral Health Management archives from July 2003

Time for managers to catch up.(Benefit plan )(Editorial)
July 1, 2003... The theme of this issue is "better service through better management." The theme raises two questions: Is "better service" what our customers really want? And what "better management" results in "better service"? The question of how our many...

Stronger advocacy on alcohol and drug issues: it's time.(Editorial)
July 1, 2003... When all the stakeholders for addiction recovery unite, powerful things happen. It last happened in 1969. Led by two legislators with their own personal recovery stories, Sen. Harold Hughes (D-Iowa) and Rep. Tom Pike (R-Calif.), the Hughes Act...

Rep. Rush vs postpartum depression.(WASHINGTON INSIGHTS)
July 1, 2003... Cynics sometimes suggest that almost all federal legislation is generated either by lobbyists pleading for their employers or by partisan maneuvering between the two political parties. In 13 years of covering Congress for this publication,...

States fail mental health priorities test.(NEWS FROM HERE AND THERE)
July 1, 2003... State investment in mental health services across the country is so inadequate that even basic services in the field are in jeopardy, according to the National Mental Health Association's (NMHA) Can't Make the Grade: NMHA State Mental Health...

Drug testing teens is no deterrent.(NEWS FROM HERE AND THERE)
July 1, 2003... The largest nationwide study of student drug testing found no difference in drug use rates between students of schools that have drug-testing programs and those that do not. The study, Relationship Between Student Illicit Drug Use and School...

What do customers really want? Everyone wants better service in behavioral healthcare--but what does that mean?(Cover story)
July 1, 2003... In this issue of Behavioral Health Management, one of the topics we are focusing on is the goal of "better service" in healthcare delivery. Only 10 short years ago, the behavioral health field was focused not on service, but on reducing...

Keeping your footing in tough financial times: it can be a shaky situation, but the authors show how their organization has adapted to survive.(an overview of Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago )(Cover story)
July 1, 2003... The current economic climate is forcing behavioral health providers to examine the viability of their services as reimbursement delays, reductions in grants, increasing demand, and other factors strain the system. In such tough times,...

An award-winning approach to risk management: adapted from the winning entry for the President's Award, 2003 Negley Awards for Excellence in Risk Management, sponsored by the Mental Health Risk Retention Group, the liability insurance captive of the Mental Health Corporations of America, Inc. * (with permission).(Cover story)(Company overview)
July 1, 2003... Vinfen Corporation owns and operates a network of 215 mental health and mental retardation program sites concentrated in eastern Massachusetts and northern Connecticut. Although risk management is not a new concept for Vinfen--it has operated a...

California counties collaborate to select software vendors: providers in other states might benefit from a similar approach.(Cover story)
July 1, 2003... Putting into practice the old adage of strength in numbers, 23 California counties have banded together to collaborate on selecting software vendors for their mental health departments. The group, known as the California Behavioral Systems...

Examining eating disorders in males: an obsession with bulging biceps and a sculpted six-pack can lead to serious, but treatable, problems.
July 1, 2003... Anorexia and bulimia are usually considered female disorders. But 10% of patients with eating disorders (EDs) are male. This percentage may be growing, possibly because of changes in U.S. culture and media coverage involving greater...

Providing direction on The Road to Resilience: the American Psychological Association has a multimedia approach to empowering consumers in these stressful times.
July 1, 2003... It has been almost two years since the September 11 terrorist attacks and still the feelings of uncertainty and unpredictability surrounding those attacks and the events that followed--the anthrax scare, a faltering economy, a volatile stock...

CMHC Systems: the first 25 years.(SPECIAL SECTION)(Community Mental Health Center )
July 1, 2003... Twenty-five years ago, there were o PCs, and almost no one in beavioral healthcare had experience with computers--except, of course, the program evaluators. Remember them? In the early days, they were the source of techno-savvy in most mental...

Is fidelity rating fair? This commonly used technique for evaluating treatment programs can help--or create problems of its own.
July 1, 2003... During the last several years l achieving "program fidelity" has become a significant challenge for many behavioral healthcare managers. As the fidelity concept of evaluating behavioral healthcare programs (for an explanation, see sidebar, "The...

Technology options in mobile computing for behavioral healthcare, part two--the wireless tablet PC.(INFOTECH: THE SATVA VIEW)
July 1, 2003... Behavioral healthcare is a highly mobile field and in desperate need of point-of-care technology A number of behavioral healthcare providers over the past five years have migrated from paper-based to electronic management information systems,...

CARF standards manuals for 2003.(PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT)
July 1, 2003... With the publication of its 2003 standards manuals, CARF has adopted a single set of Business Practices standards across all of its customer service units. The new uniform set of standards was applied to CARF surveys beginning July 1, 2003....

Versatile program software.(PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT)
July 1, 2003... Kansas Innovations, Inc., announces the newest upgrade of its ChildPRO[TM] software. Originally released in 1996, ChildPRO is a comprehensive, scalable software solution that supports human service organizations. As well as easy-to-read tables,...

Substance abuse prevention programs guide.(PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT)
July 1, 2003... The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has released its new edition of Science-based Prevention Programs and Principles: Effective Substance Abuse and Mental Health Programs for Every Community. The volume...

Financial fitness work/life partnership.(PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT)
July 1, 2003... Workplace Options (WPO) and BALANCE have formed a partnership to offer consumer-oriented financial planning and management services as integrated components of WPO's Advantage family of work/life products. Branded as Advantage Financial Assist,...

Suicide risk management.(PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT)(Brief article)
July 1, 2003... ECRI's risk-management experts have published Suicidal Patients: Assessment and Prevention to help healthcare facilities design policies and procedures for assessing, identifying, and caring for patients at risk of suicide. The resource...

Medical Necessity Manual.(PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT)
July 1, 2003... The Mihalik Group has released the Medical Necessity Manual for Behavioral Health, Version 5.1, following the publication's annual review by a national advisory panel. The Manual is used across the country by managed behavioral healthcare...

When organizations downsize.(VIEWS FROM THE TRENCHES)
July 1, 2003... Part of my career was spent working with Fortune 100 companies doing "change management and leadership" training--more specifically, helping company managements adjust to corporate downsizing or "rightsizing." Not only was the work stimulating,...

Extending prescribing privileges to psychologists.(SPECIAL SECTION TO BEHAVIORAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT)(Brief article)
July 1, 2003... New prescription drugs for mental health conditions are having an unintended side effect: igniting a debate over who should prescribe them. Some psychologists are lobbying state legislatures to extend to them prescribing privileges--with...

Psychologists should not have prescribing privileges.(SPECIAL SECTION TO BEHAVIORAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT)
July 1, 2003... BACKGROUND Organized psychology is seeking the authority to prescribe psychotropic medications for mental illnesses. The psychotropic medications used to treat mental illnesses are among the most powerful available to modern medicine. If...

Why psychologists should have prescriptive authority.(SPECIAL SECTION TO BEHAVIORAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT)
July 1, 2003... The debate about whether psychologists should be able to prescribe psychoactive medication has often been labeled a "turf' issue--psychologists wanting to expand their scope of practice and psychiatrists fighting to protect their domain....