Wednesday, September 18, 2002
HHS Seeks Science Advice to Match Bush Views Washington Post story - "The Bush administration has begun a broad restructuring of the scientific advisory committees that guide federal policy in areas such as patients' rights and public health, eliminating some committees that were coming to conclusions at odds with the president's views and in other cases replacing members with handpicked choices." Among the committees were the National Human Research Protections Advisory Committee, created under President Clinton "after a series of government reports found serious deficiencies in the federal system for protecting human subjects in research." The story notes that "Some sources suggested the committee had angered the pharmaceutical industry or other research enterprises because of its recommendations to tighten up conflict-of-interest rules and impose new restrictions on research involving the mentally ill."
Examining Costs of Chronic Conditions In a Medicaid Population Feature article in
Managed Care magazine that studies nine chroinic illnesses - among them, psychosis, depression and anxiety. "Psychosis and depression patients had the highest mean yearly costs at $6,964 and $5,505, respectively. Highest component costs were mental health practitioners for psychosis and hospital costs for depression. All other conditions had significantly lower yearly costs. Component costs consisted primarily of pharmacy and hospital costs. Psychosis was a component in 5 of the 7 most costly chronic-disease concurrences. The highest disease-concurrence mean cost was for psychosis and depression ($18,318)." (
Adobe Acrobat)
Employers and Employees in Unison: Supporting Recovery Through the Workplace Live web chat today from 3-4 PM. "Employers have enormous power to protect their businesses from the negative impact of substance abuse by educating employees and encouraging individuals with substance abuse problems to seek help. But for employees with substance addictions, getting help is just the beginning. How are employers identifying employees in need of help? What are employers doing to support recovering employees after intervention and treatment? This Webcast will look at a continuum of support employers need to provide to retain valued employees and improve the bottom line."
Northland mental health services under scrutiny (New Zealand) New Zealand Herald story - "The Mental Health Commission has met the Northland District Health Board to discuss its mental health services. But the commission is revealing few details of what was said or if the services have any serious problems."
CAMH: Future Directions An update on the strategic planning process at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health that includes the recommendations that have resulted - "We are in the process of reviewing our strategic plan and will provide updates periodically to reflect the ongoing achievements related to new strategic directions."
Idea emerges to ease crunch in mental health (Minnesota) Minneapolis Star Tribune story - "In a unique joint venture, Minnesota's health plans and hospitals may contribute at least $5 million to open one or more halfway houses for people with mental illnesses. The proposal, aimed at easing the severe shortage of psychiatric beds in the metro area, arose from an unprecedented collaboration by health plan and hospital executives, Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm and state Attorney General Mike Hatch."
