Thursday, October 31, 2002

Access Issues in Behavioral Health Care
Drug Benefit Trends article at Medscape that takes "look behind the scenes to see how things really work -- or don't work." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Rental Housing for America's Poor Families: Farther Out of Reach Than Ever
Resources from the National Low Income Housing Coalition that present "a side-by-side comparison of wages and rents in every county, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), combined nonmetropolitan area and state in the United States."  
  

University of Pittsburgh researchers link gene to depressive disorders in women
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center press release - "Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center have made significant progress in identifying the first susceptibility gene for clinical depression, the second leading cause of disability worldwide, possibly providing an important step toward changing the way doctors diagnose and treat major depression that affects nearly 10 percent of the population."  
  

Brain Images From Patients With Schizophrenia Will Be Shared in First Nationwide Imaging Network
Ascribe Newswire press release - "Brain images from hundreds of people with schizophrenia at 10 research sites nationwide will be shared in a first-of-its-kind research project funded with $10.9 million from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a branch of the National Institutes of Health. The project will create an extensive and unique database of brain information that is expected to expand our understanding of disabling brain illnesses such as schizophrenia and speed the development of new treatments."  
  

Mental health needs of HIV sufferers going up (Canada)
CTV story - "HIV medications that have taken away the death sentence of AIDS have created a burgeoning demand to treat the mental health needs of those living with the illness. And psychiatrists gathering in Banff for their annual convention Thursday are being urged to prepare for this need."  
  

Another 12 years to fill mental health service gaps, say MPs (New Zealand)
Stuff story - "It will take another 12 years to fill mental health service gaps if funding continues to increase at the current rate, a select committee said today. The comments follow the release of a report on the failures of the mental health system in dealing with Mark Burton, a paranoid schizophrenic who killed his mother 24 hours after being released from Southland Hospital's mental health unit."  
  

Horizon back on the horizon for MHC (Wisconsin)
Green Bay News-Chronicle story - "The Brown County Human Services Committee unanimously agreed to allow Texas-based Horizon Mental Health Management 60 days to decide whether it can privatize the county's mental-health care."  
  

State To Stop Paying For Uninsured Mentally Ill (Massachusetts)
WCVB story - "The state of Massachusetts will no longer pay for the roughly 200 uninsured Department of Mental Health clients who are hospitalized every year with severe mental problems. Private hospitals which are legally bound to provide treatment in critical situations will have to pick up the cost." See also the related story in the Boston Globe, State cuts payments to hospitals.  
  

Task force to assess region's drug woes (Connecticut)
Norwich Bulletin story on the establishment of a task force to assess the drug situation and propose solutions - "...part of the reaction to stories the Hartford Courant recently published on the scope of heroin use in town. As many as 300 addicts live in Windham."  
  

Board responds to damning report (New Zealand)
NZoom story - "The Southland District Health Board says it has already taken major steps to improve its mental health service, following criticism of the care of mental patient Mark Burton."