Behavioral Health Management articles from November 2003

Behavioral Health Management archives from November 2003

States are reshuffling the deck chairs.(Editorial)
November 1, 2003... Across the country, behavioral health is experiencing the effects of state budget woes. Over the past decade, both policy and funding decisions have moved from the federal government to the states--and states are using quite different...

Lesbian and gay issues are mental health issues.(Guest Editorial)
November 1, 2003... This year has been eventful for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. The Ontario Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples must be allowed to marry, and the Massachusetts Supreme Court struck down the state's ban on same-sex...

Patients are best served by cognitive/behavioral therapy, not medication.(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2003... Dear Editor: I read the July/August 2003 special section on Contemporary Issues in Behavioral Health in which Marcia K. Goin, MD, of the American Psychiatric Association and Russ Newman, PhD, JD, of the American Psychological Association...

Post-9/11 lessons in behavioral care disaster response.(Washington Insights)
November 1, 2003... The memory of the September 11, 2001, al-Qaida attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon is beginning to fade from policy debates. We have escaped so far any domestic repetition of these disasters, in part because of law enforcement...

Keeping the board of directors on track: when board members stray from their responsibilities, the organization can be derailed from fulfilling its mission.
November 1, 2003... In a recent comic strip, one employee tells another that the new had backed up a moving van to the organization's office building and was robbing it of its contents. The first employee thinks that the CEO is stealing the organization's assets,...

Retaining good managers: nurturing supervisors is essential in these trying times.
November 1, 2003... Behavioral healthcare organizations, like all other organizations, are immersed in a constant change process. If you're not changing, you're not going to be around. The call is to constantly strive to eliminate all forms of excess and waste and...

Leading complex change: a five-stage process to promote employee buy-in.
November 1, 2003... The behavioral healthcare industry continue to face numerous challenges on many different fronts. Reimbursement and funding regulatory compliance, new legislation--all present significant challenges to organizations, and they will continue to...

Treating kids with eating disorders: a look at the components of quality care.
November 1, 2003... Eating disorders and problems appear to be occurring more often at younger ages. Eating disorders are no longer just a concern for teenagers and adult women, but for children, as well. In this article, we provide an overview of this population...

Examining the rationale for antipsychotic polypharmacy.(Contemporary Issues In Health Behavioral)
November 1, 2003... Combination antipsychotic therapy (polypharmacy) for the treatment of schizophrenia is again becoming prevalent in psychiatric practice. A debate is developing on whether this is good clinical practice. Combination therapy and polypharmacy with...

Antipsychotic combination therapy: does it make sense?(Antipsychotic Combination Therapy)
November 1, 2003... Even with treatment, schizophrenia remains such a devastating illness that patients and their families and mental healthcare providers are always searching for more effective interventions and ways to diminish the adverse effects of existing...

Using a database to detect suicide risk: PacifiCare Behavioral Health uses technology to ensure patients and providers are on the same page.
November 1, 2003... We've heard about the "holiday blues," but January is when depression, substance abuse, and other mental health problems surface most acutely. The early months of the year become a time of reflection for people who thought the previous year's...

Behind managed care's courtship of clinical social workers: why clinical social workers--at least most of them--are "preferred providers".
November 1, 2003... According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, clinical social workers are the largest group of mental health providers in the United States. Although some work in hospitals, schools, and mental health centers, most...

Electronic prescribing in action: heritage behavioral health--a case study of success: the decision to use an e-prescribing and medication management system.
November 1, 2003... In May 2000, the senior management of Heritage Behavioral Health Center, Inc., began exploring ways in which the InfoScriber (1) e-prescribing application might help improve efficiency of medication management. Diana Knaebe, CEO of Heritage,...

Bridging the mental health/spirituality divide: appropriate spiritual interventions can aid therapists.
November 1, 2003... Linda was dying from AIDS. Her shame drove her into a deep depression and she found it agonizing to speak of the stress in her life. Along with the many drugs she needed to combat the deadly virus, she also took an antidepressant. Yet, she...

ASPs are worth a second look.(Views On Technology)
November 1, 2003... In 2000, the Internet Research Group stated that "Five years from now, no one will be running their own software. We will look back on those days and laugh." Unfortunately, this transition is not fully materializing as yet. However,...

Guidance for nonprofit boards.(Product Spotlight)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... The Best of the Board Cafe by Jan Masaoka (published by the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation) was developed to give nonprofit board members guidance on pressing issues. The Best of the Board Cafe is a compilation of the most requested articles from...

Online consulting services.(Product Spotlight)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Brown Consulting, Ltd., offers e-consult Behavioral Services[TM] online solutions, which provide access to targeted expertise from professional consultants via the Internet. They provide the opportunity to get information, research data, and...

Updated drug abuse prevention guide.(Product Spotlight)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has issued Preventing Drug Use Among Children and Adolescents: A Research-Based Guide for Parents, Educators, and Community Leaders, Second Edition. The 46-page booklet--significantly larger than the...

Internet-based coaching for patients with sexual addiction.(Product Spotlight)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... ContentWatch, an Internet content-control solutions provider, in partnership with AddictCARE, a provider of individual, group, and family therapy to people struggling with pornography and sexual addictions, has launched CommunityCARE (Center...

Presentation package on domestic violence.(Product Spotlight)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... The second edition of Universal Screening for Domestic Violence from the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) is a comprehensive presentation that healthcare professionals can use to educate staff on...

Psychiatry references for handhelds.(Product Spotlight)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Skyscape[R], Inc., a provider of enterprise-wide mobile medical and nursing reference solutions, has introduced five new, PDA-enhanced psychiatric references: DSM-IV-TR and The Manual for Clinical Psychopharmacology (PsychPharm[TM]), published...

Resource for Helping the Chronically Ill.(Product Spotlight)(Four-Phase treatment approach)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Managing Chronic Illness Using the Four-Phase Treatment Approach: A Mental Health Professional's Guide to Helping Chronically Ill People (published by John Wiley & Sons) is a new resource from a leading chronic illness and chronic pain expert...

Outcomes Management tool set.(Product Spotlight)(Outcomes Management Decision Support tool set)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... The Echo Group[TM] and Rapid Insight[TM] have partnered to create an Outcomes Management Decision Support (OMDS) tool set, giving agencies the power to determine the relationship between their clinical decision making and the resultant...

On to 2004--with hope.(Views From The Trenches)
November 1, 2003... My piece in the July/August issue on downsizing must have struck a chord. It generated several heartfelt comments on how current economic conditions are affecting the behavioral health field. But the economic climate isn't the only reason...