Mental Health Weekly articles from February 2005

Mental Health Weekly archives from February 2005

Proposed Medicaid budget cuts threaten Missouri's mental health system.(What's Next For Medicaid)
February 28, 2005... This is the first in a three-part series looking at the problems mental health systems face as states look for ways to cut the costs of their Medicaid programs. Across the country, the reliance on Medicaid to fund public mental health...

Advocacy groups partner with punk rockers to seek action on youth suicide prevention.(What's Next For Medicaid)
February 28, 2005... The National Mental Health Association (NMHA) in a partnership with a non-profit organization dedicated to suicide prevention, intervention and healing, joined with musicians on Capitol Hill this month to urge federal officials to prioritize...

How would a community mental health center be impacted by proposed Medicaid cuts?(Brief Article)
February 28, 2005... If the Missouri governor's cuts are passed intact, Karl Wilson, Ph.D., who is president and CEO of the Crider Center for Mental Health and chairman of the legislative committee for the Missouri Coalition of Community Mental Health Centers,...

GAO report on PTSD treatment alleges VA may be shortchanging returning vets.(Government Accountability Office)(post-traumatic stress disorder)
February 28, 2005... A new report questions the capacity of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to treat veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), raising the ire of VA officials. A Government Accountability...

Controlling access a key requirement of HIPAA Security Rule.(From the Field ..)(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996)
February 28, 2005... Editor's Note: This is the third column in a four-part series by Paul Litwak on how providers and other health care organizations can prepare for the HIPAA Security Rule that goes into effect in April. User identities and passwords A...

SAMHSA releases report on SMI state estimates: Rhode Island ranks highest in SMI rates.(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports on serious mental illness )
February 28, 2005... A new report measuring state estimates of serious mental illness released this month by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found that Rhode Island reported the highest rate in the nation for adults with SMI...

Western State Hospital.(Names in the News)(Laura Van Tosh has joined Western State Hospital)(Brief Article)
February 28, 2005... Laura Van Tosh has joined Western State Hospital as the Director of Consumer Affairs. Van Tosh brings with her years of advocacy and consumer leadership experience, and is the founder of the Mental Health Policy Roundtable, a national...

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP).(Names in the News)(Brief Article)
February 28, 2005... Dwight L. Evans, M.D. has been elected President of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), a national, non-profit organization dedicated to funding research, developing prevention initiatives and offering educational programs...

Aetna launches health info website.(Resources)(Brief Article)
February 28, 2005... Aetna Behavioral Health (ABH) has launched a new website to provide consumers, employers and behavioral health providers with information about mental health and substance abuse issues. The site also offers employers details about the full...

Social phobia gets increasing attention.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
February 28, 2005... According to Murray Stein, a psychiatrist at the University of California at San Diego, about 3 to 4 percent of the population suffers from social phobia, defined as a "marked and persistent fear" of certain social or performance situations....

New reports look at SSRI risk in adults.(Briefly Noted)(selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors)(Brief Article)
February 28, 2005... Three new analyses appearing in the online version of The British Medical Journal are sure to complicate the ongoing debate about whether antidepressant drugs increase the risk of suicidal thinking. Regulators in the U.S. and Britain have...

Coming up ...(Brief Article)(Calendar)
February 28, 2005... The National Association of County Behavioral Health Director's 10th Annual Legislative and Policy Conference will take place March 3-5 in Washington, D.C. For more information visit www.nacbhd.org. Foundations Associates will sponsor...

In case you haven't heard ...
February 28, 2005... Health and happiness do not (necessarily) go hand in hand. "For most of us, it would take a lot more than we think to make us permanently miserable," wrote the authors of a recent study published in The Journal of Experimental Psychology. The...

President's fiscal 2006 budget calls for Medicaid cuts: advocates concerned about impact on mental health programs, services.
February 21, 2005... President Bush released his proposed fiscal 2006 budget this month, calling for severe reductions in Medicaid spending and causing mental health advocates to be concerned about the impact the cuts will have on the crucial services and...

Ohio implements standardized clinical forms for community MH and SA agencies.(Ohio Department of Mental Health)
February 21, 2005... In what is apparently a first nationally, the Ohio Department of Mental Health (ODMH) has implemented standardized clinical forms for community mental health and substance abuse agencies across the state, in both paper and electronic format....

Suicide prevention advocates pleased with 2006 budget proposal.
February 21, 2005... The Suicide Prevention Action Network (SPAN-USA) this month said that President Bush's recommended funding of $16.5 million for suicide prevention in his proposed fiscal 2006 budget is a good beginning, while urging more action to address the...

HIPAA security requires organizational commitment.(From the Field)
February 21, 2005... Editor's Note: This is the second column in a series by Paul Litwak on how providers and other health organizations can prepare for the HIPAA Security Rule that goes into effect in April. I've been fortunate to have the opportunity to...

Bridges to Recovery.(Names in the News)(William J. Coburn has been appointed clinical director )(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... William J. Coburn, M.D., has been appointed clinical director at Bridges to Recovery, a residential treatment facility specializing in the treatment of trauma and mood, anxiety and adjustment disorders. Coburn has worked for over twenty years...

The National Mental Health Association.(Names in the News)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... The National Mental Health Association (NMHA) will honor journalist and author Jane Pauley and actor and youth advocate Mark Wahlberg at its 2005 annual conference, "Justice for All," in Washington, D.C. Pauley will receive the William Styron...

American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry.(Names in the News)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... Dan Blazer, M.D., Ph.D., has been named the president of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP), succeeding Anand Kumar, M.D. Blazer is the J.P. Gibbons Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University...

Horizon Corp. enters joint venture.(Business Notes)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... Horizon Health Corporation has entered into a letter of intent to form a joint venture with Friends Hospital, with a proposed 80 percent and 20 percent ownership, respectively, of the Friends Hospital facility located in Philadelphia. The...

FDA creates new safety oversight board.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... Responding to growing concern and public complaint about their management of drug safety issues, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced a new culture of increased oversight, and is creating an independent Drug Safety...

Canada suspends sales of Adderall for ADHD.(Briefly Noted)(Attention deficit hypertensive disorder)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... Health Canada, the Canadian drug regulatory agency, has suspended the sale of, but not revoked the approval of, Adderall XR in the Canadian market, the New York Times reports. Adderall XR is a controlled release amphetamine used to treat...

HHS offers simplified research assurances.(Briefly Noted)(U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)(Federalwide Assurance)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced it will offer a simplified mechanism for research institutions that receive HHS funding to obtain an assurance of compliance with HHS regulations for the protection of human...

Bill addresses solitary confinement of mentally ill.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... Bill S.2207, which has been taken up in both houses of the New York State Legislature, would require New York state prisons to create more humane facilities for mentally ill inmates. Specifically, the legislation, commonly referred to as the...

Prescribing errors confuse Zyrtec and Zyprexa.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... Ongoing drug mix-ups between Pfizer's allergy medicine Zyrtec and Eli Lilly and Company's antipsychotic drug Zyprexa have led to an FDA Medwatch safety alert, including a letter from Eli Lilly warning psychiatrists and pharmacists of the...

New understanding of the brain under stress.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... Research supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) offers new information regarding the brain's functioning in stressful situations. According to NIH, the study looked at the brains of rats and found that when it deems a stressor...

Coming up.(Brief Article)(Calendar)
February 21, 2005... The National Association of County Behavioral Health Director's 10th Annual Legislative and Policy Conference will take place March 3-5 in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.nacbhd.org. The Research and Training Center for...

In case you haven't heard ...(The highest rate of workplace depression and anxiety occurs in the youngest employees)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... The highest rate of workplace depression and anxiety occurs in the youngest employees, according to a new report by WarrenSheppell Research Group. The report is based on Employee Assistance Provider (EAP) access patterns for mood complaints....

Texas jail diversion program demonstrates economic benefits.(Focus On Criminal Justice Programs)
February 14, 2005... An innovative Texas-based jail diversion and community-based therapy program designed and developed through an expansive effort involving mental health, criminal justice leaders and other stakeholders has shown value and cost benefits in...

Court intervention program achieves success in reducing recidivism of offenders.
February 14, 2005... An innovative behavioral health program in a Rhode Island district court aimed toward minimizing unwarranted incarceration of mentally ill individuals and reducing reoffending has seen its recidivism rate cut in half. The Sixth Division...

Family-focused MH bills get reintroduced on Capitol Hill.(mental health)(Family Opportunity Act (S.183))
February 14, 2005... Two pieces of legislation with mental health impact that got attention in the last Congress are quickly back on the table as the new Congress begins. The Family Opportunity Act (S.183), co-sponsored by two-thirds of all Senators last...

Finding a cause on the road to Gaul.(From the Field)
February 14, 2005... Traveling on the road to Gaul in Sri Lanka on Dec. 26, I was looking forward to visiting the beautiful town at the southern tip of this tiny nation and celebrating the upcoming wedding of a friend. Like the rest of Southeast Asia that early...

Austen Riggs Center.(Names in the News)(Lisa Lewis)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... Lisa Lewis has been appointed communications manager of the Austen Riggs Center, a non-profit psychiatric treatment center in Stockbridge, Mass. Lewis brings to Riggs over 15 years of health care marketing communications experience,...

The National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems.(Names in the News)
February 14, 2005... The National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems (NAPHS) board of trustees has appointed its 2005 officers: First Vice President Diana L. Ramsay, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Sheppard Pratt Health System,...

California Institute for Mental Health.(Names in the News)(Neal Adams)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... Neal Adams, M.D., has joined the California Institute for Mental Health (CIMH) as director of special projects, where he will be responsible for a wide range of efforts focused on quality improvement and systems transformation through...

Managed Health Network.(Names in the News)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... Ian Shaffer, M.D., chief medical officer of Managed Health Network (MHN), has been elected board chair of the American Managed Behavioral Healthcare Association (AMBHA) for the coming year. AMBHA represents many of the nation's leading...

CIGNA expands online resources.(Resources)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... CIGNA Behavioral Heath (CBH) has expanded its website to include a more robust member section that offers a greater range of self-help resources. Responding to a growing demand for ways to manage stress, anxiety, depression and marital...

Resource guide assists mental health screening.(Resources)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... The National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice (NCMHJJ) has developed a comprehensive "best practice" guide entitled, Screening and Assessing Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders Among Youth in the Juvenile Justice System: A...

CARF establishes youth services standards.(Resources)(Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... CARF, an international nonprofit accreditor of human service providers, will introduce new standards for accrediting child and youth services, serving organizations and programs that provide child welfare, protection and well-being services...

Teaching manual supports group therapy.(Resources)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... The American Group Psychotherapy Association, Inc. (AGPA) has released a new teaching manual for faculty and students entitled, Group Interventions for Treatment of Psychological Trauma. In creating the manual with grants from the September...

Companies collaborate on Alzheimer's diagnostics.(Business Notes)(PrecisionMed Inc. and Phenomenome Discoveries Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... PrecisionMed Inc. and Phenomenome Discoveries, Inc. (PDI) have announced an intention to collaborate on the development of noninvasive diagnostics for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and bipolar disorder. PrecisionMed, a privately-held human biobank...

Lawsuit alleges inappropriate patient discharges.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... According to allegations filed in Thurston County Superior Court, Western State Hospital in Washington State "has repeatedly discharged patients to inappropriate and unsafe settings... without needed supports and services." As reported in...

British journal issues retraction and apology.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... Much publicity and dispute surrounded a Jan. 1 BMJ article in which a freelance journalist suggested that Eli Lilly & Company fell short of full disclosure regarding the risks of its anti-depression drug Prozac. The article alleged that...

Home care is best for special needs kids.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has published a clinical report in the February issue of its peer-reviewed journal Pediatrics asserting that the best place for children with special needs is at home with families. The report is...

NIH employees subject to stricter ethics rules.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced new ethics regulations that focus on the outside activities, financial holdings and awards for all of its employees. In particular, NIH is addressing concerns regarding outside consulting...

Coming up.(Calendar)
February 14, 2005... The National Association of County Behavioral Health Director's 10th Annual Legislative and Policy Conference will take place March 3-5 in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.nacbhd.org. The American Association for...

In case you haven't heard ...(sweet tooth)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... Having a sweet tooth may result from both heredity and culture, according to a study published in this month's issue of Pediatrics. Researchers have found that variations in a recently discovered taste gene accounted for individual...

Calif. youth with MI being detained in detention centers: Officials hope Proposition 63 will offer some assistance.
February 7, 2005... More than half of California's juvenile detention facilities inappropriately incarcerate youth waiting for mental health treatment, according to a report commissioned by the U.S. House of Representatives and released last month. The report is...

Re-entry issues take center stage with release of report, legislation.
February 7, 2005... A council of state, local and federal leaders and representatives of health, mental health and substance abuse treatment systems this month released a landmark report describing how to overhaul prisoner reentry systems nationwide. The...

Security of health information--the latest HIPAA deadline.(From the Field)(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996)(Column)
February 7, 2005... Editor's Note: This column is the first in a series by Paul Litwak on how providers and other health organizations can prepare for the HIPAA Security Rule that goes into effect in April. April 21, 2005 is the deadline for compliance with...

The Providence Center.(Names in the News)(appoints Deborah O'Brien and Lynn Mulvey)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... The Providence Center, a community-based outpatient behavioral health organization, announces the following appointments: Deborah O'Brien, R.N. to Chief Program Officer. In this role O'Brien will oversee all of the center's clinical programs...

Phoenix Outdoor LLC.(Names in the News)(appoints Dan Kemp)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Dan Kemp, former director of admissions for Northwest Academy-CEDU, is joining Phoenix Outdoor LLC as director of admissions and marketing. Phoenix is a therapeutic adolescent wilderness program that provides comprehensive crisis intervention...

CARF.(Names in the News)(Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities appoints Jane Dorval)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Jane Dorval, M.D. has been appointed senior medical advisor in medical rehabilitation at CARF. Dorval will provide leadership in designing CARF standards, promoting the value of accreditation for consumers and developing links with the...

Loudoun Healthcare changes name.(Business Notes)(Loudoun Adult Medical Psychiatric Services)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Leesburg, Va.-based Loudoun Healthcare, Inc., a behavioral medicine program providing specialized evaluation and treatment for adults experiencing symptoms of psychiatric, emotional and/or neurological disorders, has announced its new name:...

Rural physicians have greater purchasing power.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... A study conducted by The Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) suggests that although physicians working in rural areas of the U.S. have slightly lower average incomes than their urban counterparts, they maintain a roughly 18 percent...

Vt. state hospital faces closure.(Briefly Noted)(Vermont State Hospital plans to close)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... The Vermont State Hospital in Waterbury has been decertified for the second time in two years, after two patient escapes suggested that the facility is in need of comprehensive reform-or closure. "It is clear now that the problems are so...

Alabama files suit against drug companies.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Seventy-nine drug companies are under scrutiny following a suit filed by the state of Alabama, which alleges that companies have been inflating the average wholesale prices of prescription drugs. The Birmingham News reports that these figures...

Researchers discover gene associated with schizophrenia.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... The Australian Associated Press reports that Australian researchers at the Queensland University of Technology have identified a gene they believe to be linked with D2 dopamine receptors. "There's been a lot of evidence about increased D2...

Coming up.(Brief Article)(Calendar)
February 7, 2005... CARF's (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities') Behavioral Health and Child and Youth Services International Conference, "Accreditation: Still on Target!" will take place Feb. 20-22 in Tucson, Ariz. For more information...

In case you haven't heard ...(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... The Vermont Teddy Bear Co. will no longer manufacture and sell straight-jacketed "Crazy for You" teddy bears, the Associated Press reported. Despite complaints from mental health advocates and Vermont Gov. James Douglas, the company had...