Tuesday, June 10, 2003
Seroxat safety advice to be changed (UK) BBC story - "Experts are set to update the safety advice provided with the controversial antidepressant Seroxat. The drug has been at the centre of a storm amid claims that it is addictive and could increase the risk of violent behaviour in some patients."
Brain scans help doctors understand psychiatric ills Baltimore Sun story - "The science of brain scanning may be on the brink of revolutionizing the intuitive art of psychiatry, one of the few domains left in medicine in which a doctor's educated guess is still the most common way to figure out what's wrong. To be sure, brain scanning is still too young a science to be used for routine diagnosis of the most common psychiatric ills. But it is proving invaluable in understanding the underlying abnormalities in a wide range of psychiatric disorders including obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety and depression."
Legislation targets Medicare mental health inequality American Medical News story - "Mental health advocates are increasingly optimistic that Congress will reauthorize and strengthen federal laws requiring large private insurers to put mental health services on equal footing with physical health services. Yet Congress may still let the largest U.S. insurer off the hook. Medicare mental health parity remains far down the list of priorities for lawmakers considering how to reform the health program this year without bankrupting the Medicare trust fund in the process."
Police set to close cells to mentally ill (New Zealand) New Zealand Herald story - "West Auckland police may refuse to hold mental health patients in their cells unless they have committed an offence - a move expected to put more pressure on already-stretched psychiatric facilities. The police have tried to help the Waitemata District Health Board by holding patients in the cells at Henderson police station when acute mental health units are full."
Health cuts up for debate (California) Orange County Register story - "Advocates for the poor, the homeless and the mentally ill plan to pack the Hall of Administration Building on Tuesday to speak out against proposed cuts to medical programs for the county’s most vulnerable populations."
State Senate panel balks at cuts, restores 538 jobs (Missouri) Southeast Missourian story - "A Senate committee will likely reinstate some, if not most, of the 538 state jobs the House of Representatives endorsed eliminating last week. Several members of the Senate Appropriations Committee said Monday that the scope of job cuts at three departments -- mental health, health and senior services, and social services -- would impede the ability of those agencies to efficiently and effectively deliver programs."
Reinhard steers Virginia mental health Roanoke Times story on Dr. Jim Reinhard - "Virginia's mental health commissioner stood before more than 80 psychiatrists, program administrators and public and private care providers last month and delivered a sobering assessment of the state's system for treating the mentally ill. ... Reinhard faces the challenge of changing a state system from one that traditionally has emphasized treatment in institutions to one that encourages more care in community settings. Nearly two-thirds of the state's mental health spending in the 2002 fiscal year was directed toward facilities, and less than a third went to community services boards."
Mental health center gets funding (Georgia) Augusta Chronicle story on the Community Mental Health Center of East Central Georgia - "Unpaid leave at a financially strapped Augusta mental health center was averted after Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue came up with $900,000 to tide the center over, officials said. ... Officials at the Augusta center have blamed former administrators, fired earlier this year, for running up what was originally a $2 million deficit, in part through lucrative contracts with outside vendors who had ties to them. The center has since canceled a number of those contracts and now handles its own billing and pharmacy services again."
Mental health bill sparks debate (New York) Democrat & Chronicle story - "...state lawmakers are considering approving a sweeping expansion of mental health services that health insurance policies have to cover. ... To its supporters, the passage of the bill would end what they see as discrimination against those with mental illness. Treatment of emotional and behavior disorders, as well as drug addiction and alcoholism, would be covered to the same extent as physical problems such as heart attacks and cancer. But to its detractors, passage of the measure would mean fewer New Yorkers would be able to afford health insurance and thousands would be added to the rolls of the state’s uninsured. That’s because the mandate would drive up premiums."
Mental-health services wait for cuts (Missouri) Story in the
St. Joseph News-Press - "Mental-health advocates and providers are voicing concern for the potential fallout that state budget cuts may have on services to the region’s residents. A lack of sufficient state government dollars has been a common worry among Northwest Missouri’s mental-health supporters in recent years. They point to client waiting lists, reduction of substance-abuse programs and elimination of counseling sessions as results of the lower-than-anticipated funding."
University of Minnesota creates center to prevent, treat youths’ mental health problems Story in the
Minnesota Daily - "Citing Minnesota’s population growth, University President Bob Bruininks announced May 30 the University is forming a Center of Excellence in Children’s Mental Health as part of the president’s Initiative on Children, Youth and Families. With private funding, the center will partner University scholars with local community leaders and organizations that connect young people and adults, and develop research-based models for training to better prevent, identify and treat mental health problems in young people."
