Behavioral Health Management articles from May 2003

Behavioral Health Management archives from May 2003

HIPAA is happening. (Editorial).(Editorial)
May 1, 2003... HIPAA is upon us. Formally known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, HIPAA was originally intended to help improve the "efficiency and effectiveness of the healthcare system." These improvements would be...

Budgetary dreams vs reality. (Washington Insights).(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration )
May 1, 2003... In government, as in business, the annual budget should provide the clearest understanding of priorities. Spending changes detail which government programs are planned for expansion and which are slated for cuts or elimination. Hard...

Consumer-driven health care? New healthcare options promise more choice and cost containment, but there could be unintended consequences for people with mental illnesses. (Cover Story).
May 1, 2003... Rising healthcare costs have been a major concern of business leaders for decades, and rapidly escalating premiums have reduced employers' ability to continue to pay for the healthcare of their employees. In fact, a survey of 500 companies by...

Online psychiatry comes into its own: in this provider's opinion, mental healthcare belongs on the Internet, despite legal and ethical obstacles. (Cover Story).
May 1, 2003... Can the Internet be used to effectively facilitate the treatment of patients and their psychiatric conditions? Consider the following early battle in my quest to convince others that it can and should be done. The "trial" convened a few...

E-therapy: a question of ethics: a review of the professional issues involved in this controversial medium.
May 1, 2003... Four major ethical issues with E-therapy have become apparent from research by our team and others. First, since no theoretical base or scientific evidence of efficacy has yet been published for online therapy, it must be regarded as an...

Using technology to track outcomes: an interview with Benjamin Brodey, MD, MPH. (Cover Story).(Interview)
May 1, 2003... Following a mandate from the legislature, the state of Washington is in the process of implementing a statewide outcomes-tracking system to assess the care provided to mental health consumers receiving state-funded care. The overarching goal of...

Surfing the mental health Web: a no-nonsense approach of what to look for in Web sites. (Cover Story).
May 1, 2003... Since the advent of the World Wide Web in the early 1990s, thousands of consumer-oriented mental health Web sites have been created. Almost three million results are generated by the Google search engine for the term "mental health."...

Who really benefits from any willing provider laws? The Supreme Court says it's a state's right, but is it good policy? (Feature Article).
May 1, 2003... Consumer choice is a public policy objective well served by AWP [any willing provider] laws. But accountability (documented performance) and efficiency (resource conservation) are also public policy objectives. Choice must be balanced with...

IT upgrades in the public sector: necessary even in difficult times. (Feature Article).
May 1, 2003... An interview with Alicia L. Vines and David V. Kendall of the Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services In California, a state hit particularly hard by budget shortfalls, many county-based mental health systems are gearing...

Your Next HIPAA deadline: Transactions and Code Set compliance: just as the Privacy Rule dust settles, here comes another HIPAA deadline--October 16. (Feature Article).
May 1, 2003... With the passing of the April 14 Privacy Rule compliance deadline, many providers are taking a deep breath (hopefully) and looking to the next impending HIPAA deadline: October 16, 2003. That is the time by which they must implement the...

A model to transcend the limitations of addiction treatment: the acute model of intervention is being challenged by models that wrap episodes of professional treatment within a continuum of recovery-support services. (Features Article).
May 1, 2003... Alcohol and other drug (AOD) problems present in both acute and chronic forms. For most people, these problems are of short duration and low to moderate severity, and patients usually resolve them on their own or through brief professional...

Company approaches to customer support. (Infotech: the Satva view).
May 1, 2003... "Do less than customers expect and service is perceived as bad. Do exactly what customers expect and service is perceived as good.... But do more than customers expect and service is perceived as superior." --John Tschohl, customer service...

'Consumer-driven' care has pitfalls. (Views From The Trenches).
May 1, 2003... Consumer-driven behavioral healthcare--some of us have problems with that concept. If it means, as the recent Robert Wood Johnson Foundation study predicts, that as healthcare costs continue to rise over the next five years to 17% of the gross...

Who should treat bipolar disorders? (Contemporary Issues In Behavioral Health).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... It's well known that primary care providers (PCPs) act as the de facto mental health system, delivering care to many people who cannot and/ or will not visit behavioral health professionals. Patients with bipolar disorders present a special...

Exploring the alliance between primary care physicians and psychiatrists in treating bipolar disorders. (Contemporary Issues In Behavioral Health).
May 1, 2003... Bipolar disorders are increasingly recognized as a prevalent and important type of mood disorder in the primary care setting. Often misdiagnosed as major depression or an anxiety disorder (such as social phobia, panic, or generalized anxiety...

Managing bipolar disorders: primary care does have a role. (Contemporary Issues In Behavioral Health).
May 1, 2003... The debate over treatment of people with bipolar disorders in the primary care setting has provided clarity: We must focus our attention on how--not whether--primary care physicians (PCPs) will treat these patients. One major reason: Limited...