Behavioral Health Management articles from September 1998

Behavioral Health Management archives from September 1998

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
September 1, 1998... Dear Mr. Peck: I read the Hay Group report and, unlike Drs. Zieverink and Goldstein ("The Incredibly Shrinking Behavioral Care Dollar," July/August 1998), I believe the reduction in behavioral health costs of 54% versus 7% for healthcare...

Undone by the Law.
September 1, 1998... Federal officials attending the National Prevention Network annual meeting this September sang the praises of family therapy. They told representatives of state mental health and substance abuse agencies that family interventions are the key to...

Accountability Hits Home.
September 1, 1998... Behavioral healthcare organizations that have achieved accreditation by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) or are considering accreditation for any new business ventures need to be aware of the newest...

Legal Risks of the Y2K Problem.
September 1, 1998... Synchronicity is a wonderful concept. The following three items came to my attention in preparing for this article: * Before a flight this week, I was sitting outside a large airport when the gentleman sitting next to me started to mutter....

State Medicaid Contracts: Doing Better?
September 1, 1998... Interview with Joel Teitelbaum, JD, LLM, co-author, Negotiating the New Health System: Mental Illness and Addiction Disorder Treatment and Prevention Last year a study from the George Washington University Center for Health Policy Research...

NAMI's Wesley Alcorn: Battling a "Spiritually Bankrupt" Mental Health System.
September 1, 1998... His role model: The wolf Still reeling from the July 24 tragedy on Capitol Hill that saw the deaths of two Capitol guards, mental health activist Wesley Alcorn sprang into action. His mission: to get out a message far beyond that of the...

"Medical Necessity": Definitional Warfare.
September 1, 1998... Legal pitfalls open when everyone gets into the act The determination of medical necessity is one of the most controversial issues to have emerged, as more of the nation's insured plan members continue to enroll in managed care. The focus...

Crossing Over.
September 1, 1998... Interview with E. Clarke Ross, DPA, Former Executive Director, American Managed Behavioral Healthcare Association, Current Deputy Executive Director for Public Policy, the National Alliance for the Mentally III At first glance, the...

A Primer on Credentials Verification.
September 1, 1998... Why it's important, and why outsourcing may be the way to go As a healthcare organization/plan (HCO/P) selects or develops a network of providers to serve the customer, it focuses first of all on ensuring that a sufficient number and proper...

Singing the Managed Care Blues.
September 1, 1998... Interview with Dr. Sam Bierstock, Leader, the Managed Care Blues Band Dr. Sam Bierstock and his band of physician extenders have taken to the road, singing the blues about managed healthcare. The retired eye surgeon last year turned to a...

"Best Practice" Integration of Behavioral Healthcare.
September 1, 1998... Seven keys to attaining this much-talked-about but elusive goal "It is truly ironic that the HMO industry that gave birth to managed care now provides the most primitive and low-quality managed behavioral healthcare services within the...

Depakote: An Emerging Option for Manic Depression.
September 1, 1998... Interview with Charles Bowden, MD, Chief, Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas, San Antonio Abbott Laboratories' Depakote (divalproex sodium) recently surpassed lithium as the agent most prescribed by psychiatrists for treating...

Quo Vadis?
September 1, 1998... You don't have to be a movie fan to know that "quo vadis?" means "whither do we tend?" It's as good a question today as it was in the days of ancient Rome. Take this past summer, for example--one of those seasons when I found the Wall Street...