Tuesday, May 27, 2003
A large "thank you" to all readers and subscribers for your patience and understanding while a wide array of technical issues were addressed and resolved. Regular postings to PULSE
have resumed today and will continue on a daily basis. The PULSE e-mailing list also needed to be reconstituted, and we'll see, when e-mailings resume later this week, just how successful that effort was. If you want to be sure to receive PULSE
mailings, please fill out the subscription form. If your entry does turn out to be a duplicate, you will not receive duplicate copies of the mailings. Thanks again......... Bill
Health Reimbursement Arrangements: Making a Good Deal Better Brief analysis from the National Center for Policy Analysis, available through the
Open Minds web site - "The proportion of health care paid directly by consumers has been falling for decades. In 1960, individuals paid directly for 50 percent of their health care. Today they pay for only 15 percent. The other 85 percent is paid by third parties, generally employers, insurance companies or the government. As their share of health expenses declined, so also did consumers interest in controlling health care costs...."
Corporate Responsibility and Corporate Compliance: A Resource for Health Care Boards of Directors
Paper by the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and The American Health Lawyers Associations available at the
Open Minds web site - "As corporate responsibility issues fill the headlines, corporate directors are coming under greater scrutiny. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, state legislation, agency pronouncements, court cases and scholarly writings offer a myriad of rules, regulations, prohibitions, and interpretations in this area. While all Boards of Directors must address these issues, directors of health care organizations also have important responsibilities that need to be met relating to corporate compliance requirements unique to the health care industry..."
Canadian Soldiers Joining in What They Call Unprecedented Lawsuit Against Military Canadian Press story reprinted at
PsycPORT - "A group of soldiers is launching what may be the largest-ever legal assault on Canada's military, filing at least $60 million in lawsuits over stress they claim to have suffered while on duty, The Canadian Press has learned. About 25 soldiers have filed or will file individual lawsuits, claiming they suffered post-traumatic stress because the Canadian Armed Forces ignored their psychological problems."
Report: State system helping disturbed children fragmented (South Carolina) AP story at
The State - "The state system that places and monitors emotionally troubled children in South Carolina often overlooks their needs, a review of state records by
The Greenville News found. Most of the children have been abused or neglected by family members. The newspaper's review showed the children are moved several times, given therapeutic evaluations more than once and work with several case managers since the responsibility in caring for them rests with at least 10 separate agencies, officials say."
Our wise investment in Medicaid pays off Opinion piece by Arnold Robbins in the
Boston Globe - "Thanks to a mental health revolution, powerful new medications (in conjunction with psychosocial treatments) now allow people with even serious disorders to maintain productive lives and to meaningfully contribute to society, living successfully in their communities, holding jobs, and raising families. The drugs are neither perfect nor cheap, but their strain on state Medicaid budgets is frequently exaggerated, generally amounting to no more than 4 percent of total Medicaid spending. Still, as state lawmakers weigh strategies to rein in Medicaid costs, they are tempted to try to achieve the appearance of short-term savings by restricting doctor and patient access to mental health medications."
Proposed Nevada budget helps some social services AP story at the
Reno Gazette-Journal - "Low-income mothers, seniors and people with mental health problems would all benefit under the proposed two-year, $4.8 billion budget nearing final approval in the Nevada Legislature. But social service advocates are cautious, saying lawmakers must still approve a tax program with enough money to finance the programs approved by the Senate and Assembly budget committees."
Censured on mental health (Maine) Kennebec Journal story - " superior court judge ruled Friday that the state has failed to comply with a wide array of requirements of a 12-year-old court order to improve services for patients at the Augusta Mental Health Institute. In a 354-page decision, Superior Court Chief Justice Nancy D. Mills rebuked state officials who she said not only failed to meet the terms of the so-called AMHI consent decree but also should have admitted their inability to make that claim."
For mental health reform to succeed, North Carolina lawmakers must boost trust fund Citizen-Times story - "Two things can be said with some certainty about the delivery of health care to the mentally ill who don't have private insurance in North Carolina. First, the old system was broken and needed fixing. And second, consumers, providers, local governments, area agencies and providers of last resort (hospitals) worry that the state's approach to dismantling the system in order to repair it may only be making things worse."
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health supports renewal of Canada's Drug Strategy Canada Newswire item - "The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health supports the legislation announced today converting cannabis possession to a civil violation under the federal Contraventions Act. CAMH also supports the announcement of a national drug strategy to situate the response to drug use within a broader health framework."
Minorities get different mental health care in rich neighborhoods
Health Behavior News Service story - "Minorities living in relatively wealthy New York City neighborhoods are more likely to receive mental health care in emergency rooms and hospitals than white people living in the same areas, a new study concludes.... The research, published in the
American Journal of Public Health, is one of the first studies conducted outside of California that compares mental health services use by minorities living at different poverty levels, the researchers say."
