Monday, September 15, 2003

Editor's note - Today marks the official launch of this new, enhanced version of PULSE, a free service of the Centre for Community Change International. In development and testing for more than a year, you'll find all the content from the past year is still available (see the section of the User's Guide on the archives, which are organized a little differently now), as well as a wealth of new features, including a number of separate PULSE news channels (see the list at left and the page about PULSE channels), a search interface and the option of receiving the previous day's full content via e-mail. Please see the overview of the new version and please send along any comments, questions and suggestions directly to me. - Bill Davis  
  

State and Local Drug Indicator Profiles
"The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Clearinghouse has developed Drug Indicator Profiles as a resource for State/city policymakers, law enforcement officials, researchers, and the general public. Profiles have been developed for every State and more than 80 cities across the United States."  
  

2003 State-by-State Medicaid Fact Sheets
"The National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have updated their series of one-page, state specific fact sheets about the issue of children and Medicaid. Medicaid Fact Sheets are available for all 50 states, the District of Columbia and a national fact sheet is also available. Medicaid provides health insurance for three in every 10 American children, making it the largest children's health program in the country. We have provided these fact sheets as an education tool to make it easier for others to understand the importance of the Medicaid program for children and children's hospitals...."  
  

Towards a national database for mental health services in hospitals (Canada)
Item in the latest Mental Health Notes (published by CMHA Ontario) - "The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) has released its first effort in developing a national database on hospital mental health services and invites feedback on its quality and suitability for regional planning in addictions and mental health. The report shows how data about mental health services in hospitals can be used to calculate service utilization across the country, and presents a special study on schizophrenia to show how the data can be scrutinized to examine trends for specific illnesses." See also the CIHI web site, which "provides a range of free, aggregate-level data on Hospital Mental Health Services." (The full report can be ordered via the site, but does require a fee).  
  

State's care for mentally ill at issue (Georgia)
Story at WXIA-TV's web site - "Advocates say the state's mental health system is failing the people who need it most amid criminal investigations, budget problems and the sometimes use of inexperienced volunteer workers. Two of the 25 community service boards set up ten years ago to localize treatment and reduce costs are under criminal investigation, including for possible Medicaid fraud. A third board has been taken over by the state because of money problems..."  
  

Recovery Month 2003
A SAMHSA web site - "Recovery Month provides a platform to celebrate people in recovery and those who serve them. Each September, thousands of treatment programs around the country celebrate their successes and share them with their neighbors, friends, and colleagues in an effort to educate the public about treatment, how it works, for whom, and why. Substance abuse treatment providers have made significant accomplishments, having transformed the lives of untold thousands of Americans. These successes often go unnoticed by the broader population; therefore, Recovery Month provides a vehicle to celebrate these successes." See especially the page on Wednesday's webcast (Business Community Voices for Recovery) and the page for adding your organizations's events.  
  

Experts view Vermont plan as a blueprint for insurance parity laws
Story in the Idaho State Journal - "Opponents told Ken Libertoff the Vermont legislation he helped draft in 1997 would raise insurance premiums by at least 10 percent and force employers to drop insurance plans. Libertoff, director of the Vermont Association for Mental Health, argued the price tag of his proposal, which would cover mandating equal insurance coverage for physical and mental illnesses, wouldn't be nearly as steep as they feared. Vermont passed the bill and now has what mental illness advocates call the nation's best insurance parity law. Vermont's law has been heavily scrutinized, and parts of a national parity bill still pending in the U.S. Senate were patterned after it..."  
  

Crisis team is 'mental-health rescue squad' (Illinois)
Story in Pantagraph.com - " ...'We describe ourselves as a mobile mental-health rescue squad,' program manager Mark Benson said of the seven-member team, which responds to crises in pairs. McLean County is among few places in Illinois with a 24-hour mental health crisis team." Team members, the story notes, are Team members "all mental health professionals and most with master's degrees."  
  

Michigan's mentally ill: The crisis in care
Story in the Detroit News - "Two state Senate committees begin joint hearings Wednesday on the crisis in care for people who are mentally ill, intending to devise solutions for a system that often leaves consumers without a program for recovery and many seeking treatment in county jails. Senators are scheduled to hear this week from advocates for the mentally ill, including local representatives of a group that authored a comprehensive national study ranking Michigan last among the states in three categories of care. Next week, the senators will hear testimony from people who are mentally ill and their families."  
  

Are Dean, Kerry Mental Health Plans Ignoring Reality?
Story at TownHall.com - "Democratic presidential rivals Howard Dean and John Kerry have both come forward with their blueprints for federally mandated mental health insurance parity, despite the fact that Americans now have unprecedented access to prescription drug treatment. The Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 already restricts group health plans from placing annual or lifetime dollar limits on mental health benefits, if they're offered by the plan, that are lower than medical and surgical benefits. Dean's plan would go further by prohibiting private insurance companies from charging more for individuals seeking mental illness treatment because, the former governor of Vermont said, too many Americans are denied quality health care. The plan put forth by Sen. Kerry (D-Mass.) alluded less directly to a federal mandate on insurers, saying he would close "unnecessary loopholes that allow insurers to skirt their responsibility." The story also quotes Devon Herrick, a health economist at the National Center for Policy Analysis, who cautions that "higher health insurance costs will be passed on to workers in the form of higher premiums" and notes that "the biggest breakthroughs in mental health in the last, say, 20 years have been with drugs." See also the news stories Gov. Dean Unveils Vision for Mental Health Care in America (U.S. Newswire) and John Kerry Releases Mental Health Policy Statement (Ascribe Newswire). [Editor's note - From time to time, readers will find links here to news stories and articles on proposals and positions put forth by various political candidates. The inclusion of such material is not intended to advocate for or against any particular candidates or views, and should not be understood as such, but rather as part of an effort to distribute information of interest to readers and to help contribute to the overall quality of discourse on issues related to mental health. - BD]  
  

Lee-Harnett Mental Health merger pressed
Story in the Fayetteville Observer - "Lee and Harnett counties have asked to keep their mental health program local even though the state has suggested that they merge with another county as part of reform. The state says the Lee-Harnett Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Authority serves too small a population to be efficient. But the program's director and others worry that its patients will suffer if it has to merge with another county..."  
  

St. Francis sell mental health unit; Natchaug will see expansion (Connecticut) 
Story in The Chronicle - "If a proposal to the state Office of Health Care Access is approved, Natchaug Hospital will see a substantial expansion of behavioral health programs under its purview as soon as January. ... The programs treat adults, adolescents and children with psychiatric and substance abuse disorders requiring partial hospitalization or outpatient levels of care, according to the proposal."