Monday, November 17, 2003

Overhauling the Nation's Mental Health System
Feature article in Clinician News at Medscape - " In its final report, the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health recommends 'a fundamental transformation' that, if achieved, will require stronger intervention on the part of primary care practitioners as well as a national commitment to making "recovery" from mental illness the expected outcome in these patients. The report targets several aspects that need to be addressed. These include enhanced clinician education, early diagnosis and intervention, elimination of disparities in mental health care (eg, age, race, ethnicity, geography), and more widespread use of telemedicine and electronic medical technologies..." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Gatekeepers to Pharmaceuticals
Article in Medscape Psychopharmacology Today by Thomas A. M. Kramer, MD - "More and more, the television and other media tell our patients to talk to us. "Ask your doctor," they say. Millions and millions of dollars are being spent just to tell our patients to talk to us. The reason that so much money is being spent to foster communication is because marketing is being done to people who cannot, of their own volition, buy the product. They have to come to us to ask permission..." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

A mental-health safety net, frayed and torn
Feature story in the Christian Science Monitor - "States, facing their worst fiscal crises since World War II, have been making drastic cuts - and are considering more. And since healthcare programs such as Medicaid constitute roughly 20 percent of state budgets, they are often targets. In the last legislative session, 29 states cut their mental-healthcare systems, according to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. But experts say lawmakers will regret their choices. The mentally ill need treatment one way or another - and prevention is far less costly than crisis care. A 24-hour hospital stay for a mentally ill patient in crisis can cost a state the same as six months of outpatient care. Jailing the same person for a misdemeanor, such as trespassing or panhandling, can cost as much as a year of outpatient care."  
  

Medicaid cost 'crisis' still plagues state (New York)
Albany Times Union story - "... County legislators and administrators have been engaged this month in the grim task of proposing their budgets for 2004. In almost every case, they're contemplating double-digit tax increases, sales tax increases or extensive service cuts. Their most often-cited reason is the need to pay for the state-mandated local share of Medicaid costs. The executive director of the state Association of Counties, Robert Gregory, is talking about the "crisis" counties face because of Medicaid and public pension costs."  
  

National Survivors of Suicide Day to Take Place on November 22
Collegiate Presswire news release - "A person dies by suicide every eighteen minutes in the United States. And with every suicide, there are hundreds of thousands of family members, friends and co-workers -- ''survivors'' -- left behind to cope with this tragic loss. On Saturday, Nov. 22, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) will sponsor its fifth annual National Survivors of Suicide Day, linking thousands of survivors of suicide through a national program offering support, healing, information and empowerment to those in need. The national program will be broadcast to local conference sites nationwide from 12:00-1:45 p.m. EST. The program will also be broadcast online at www.afsp.org, and an online chat will be available, offering survivors an additional forum to talk to fellow survivors and share their own stories. The online broadcast will ensure that survivors can participate even if there isn`t a local conference in their area, or if they find it difficult to attend in person."  
  

New substance abuse hospital opens in county (Florida)
Hernando Today story - "Hernando County's first comprehensive mental health and substance abuse hospital is now open to the public. ... The $3 million, 25,000-square-foot facility offers outpatient and inpatient counseling, case management, outreach services, day treatment, a detoxification unit and crisis support and emergency services. The 10-bed hospital employs 100 people, about 75 of them from the two existing Harbor facilities in the county, which have now closed. ..."  
  

Durham County mental health system in flux during overhaul (North Carolina)
Herald-Sun story - "Durham Center Interim Director Ellen Holliman compares the work involved in a state-mandated overhaul of Durham's mental health system to straightening up a long-forgotten closet. It gets worse before it gets better. Durham County's mental health makeover is to be completed by next year, and the shock waves of change have increased in intensity, officials said.  The cornerstone of the state reform effort is to transform local mental health agencies like the Durham Center into contract overseers. They no longer will provide direct assistance, instead working much the way managed-care companies do, by authorizing private providers to render services. "  
  

Mental health conference turns focus to children (Montana)
Story in The Missoulian - "The 75 people who attended the two-day Montana Children’s Mental Health Symposium left Fairmont Hot Springs late Friday with a mantra: Spread the word. The conference launched the state into the growing national reform that works to integrate mental health services for children into a seamless whole and to focus on prevention early in children’s lives"  
  

Mental health services 'failing' (UK)
BBC story - " A report by the health think tank The King's Fund says services in London are failing and more needs to be done. It comes just days after another report warned many trusts across the country are struggling to maintain services because of a lack of money. The Department of Health insists progress is being made and NHS services are improving." See also Mental Health in London at the King's Fund web site for copies of the report and related resources.