Thursday, January 22, 2004

Protection and Advocacy Agencies: Involvement in Deinstitutionalization Lawsuits on Behalf of Individuals with Development Disabilities
GAO report made available through the Open Minds web site - "Lawsuits related to deinstitutionalization brought on behalf of persons with developmental disabilities are a small part of P&As’ overall activities for this population. GAO identified 24 such lawsuits that P&As filed, joined, or intervened in from 1975 through 2002. During the same period, P&As filed or intervened in 6 of these lawsuits in the three states GAO reviewed— California, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Three of the 6 were settled as class actions; the other 3 were intended, but not settled, as class actions. One is ongoing, one was dismissed, and one was settled by multiparty agreement...."  
  

Hormonal Treatments for Women With Schizophrenia
Article in the latest Psychiatric Times - "Women with schizophrenia may benefit from hormone replacement therapy. A new study measured the efficacy of estrogen, progesterone, Prolactin, luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone and testosterone on women with the disorder.."  
  

Hormones for Perimenopausal and Postmenopausal Depression
Article in the latest Psychiatric Times - "Estrogen and progesterone are believed to play a role in the regulation of mood and well-being. Several mechanisms have been proposed for this effect, including the hormones' influence on monoamine oxidase (MAO) metabolism. Estrogen inhibits MAO, thereby diminishing the degradation of norepinephrine and serotonin and thus increasing their activity, while progesterone has the reverse impact on MAO (Chakravorty and Halbreich, 1997; Luine and Rhodes, 1983). Allopregnanolone, a metabolite of progesterone, is a potent neuroactive steroid that modulates g-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors and may be anxiolytic (Majewska et al., 1986). "  
  

IOM Calls for Universal Coverage by 2010
Medscape Medical News story - "The Institute of Medicine (IOM) said today the U.S. must extend health insurance coverage to all Americans by the year 2010, calling incremental steps toward universal health insurance coverage "inadequate." Some 43 million Americans now lack such coverage, according to recent government data, a phenomenon that has spiked by 10% in the past three years. The IOM, an independent, bipartisan entity that makes recommendations on health and scientific policy to the President and Congress, issued its final report on the consequences of the uninsured as the issue is picking up steam in a presidential election year, noted IOM President Harvey Fineberg, MD. .." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free]. See also Insuring America's Health: Principles and Recommendations at the IOM web site, where a report brief is available (in Adobe Acrobat format), as well as a number of related documents.  
  

Nation's Health Plans Now Judged on Quality Standards for Treatment of Alcoholism
Press release from Ensuring Solutions to Alcohol Problems (George Washington University), reprinted at Join Together - "A tool that 90% of the nation's health plans already use to assess their performance in treating asthma, diabetes, and high blood pressure now includes new measures for how well plans do in treating patients who have been diagnosed with alcoholism and other drug disorders. According to a report released today by Ensuring Solutions to Alcohol Problems, holding plans accountable for timely and effective alcohol treatment should lead to improved service delivery and more informed health care contract negotiations. The new primer, Using Performance Measurement to Improve the Quality of Addiction Treatment, focuses on the inclusion of leading addiction treatment indicators in a popular performance measurement tool called the Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) as part of a broader explanation of how both the private and public sectors are using performance measurement to demand greater accountability from health care providers. " See also the primer Using Performance Measurement to Improve the Quality of Addiction Treatment.  
  

Oregon Health Plan in jeopardy
Story in the Statesman-Journal - "A decade ago, Oregon captured national attention as the first state to expand health-care coverage to the poor by rationing medical treatments. Now, if voters give a thumbs down to tax-increasing Measure 30, the groundbreaking expansion of the Oregon Health Plan will be wiped out, state officials say. Under that scenario, nearly 50,000 low-income Oregonians enrolled in OHP Standard — launched in 1994 as the state’s bold health-care expansion — would be stripped of their coverage for doctor visits, hospital care and medication...  
  

County Adjusts Services To Help the Homeless (Maryland)
Washington Post story - "There are 40 bunk beds inside the Men's Emergency Shelter in Rockville, and usually only the bottom bunks are occupied. But the facility expands its capacity in the cold weather, with space for as many as 150 men in the shelter and a nearby trailer... 'We make sure that homeless families with children are not out on the streets, especially in cold weather,' said Alex Wertheim, program manager for homeless services for Montgomery County. The county contracts with a number of private nonprofit groups and faith-based organizations to run its shelters and most of its homeless programs. Wertheim said that although there are sufficient resources to provide physically for those in need, efforts to provide mental health and other services are stretched thin..."  
  

New mental health agency proposed (North Carolina)
Raleigh News-Observer story - "Among the three contractors applying to take over Durham County's adult mental health services is one that might look reassuringly familiar to current patients. Members of the county-run Durham Center's staff have proposed creating a new county agency that would serve patients at the same downtown location -- a key demand of clients who pleaded at a public meeting earlier this month to keep their current social workers and therapists..."  
  

State set to close mental health facility (Missouri)
Story in The Missourian - "Missouri's mental health department plans to close a residential treatment center for emotionally disturbed children in Cape Girardeau as a cost-cutting move, department officials said Wednesday. The Cottonwood Treatment Center at 1025 N. Sprigg is scheduled to close on June 15, but Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder said he and state Rep. Jason Crowell of Cape Girardeau plan to try to restore funding to keep the center operating. State mental health department spokeswoman Lois Thomas said the closing would eliminate 83 jobs and save the state more than $2 million annually in salaries, fringe benefits, expenses and other equipment. ..."  
  

Task force urges Brown Co. to retool mental-health services (Wisconsin)
Green Bay Press-Gazette story - "The future of the Brown County Mental Health Center may be making do with the existing physical structure and downsizing some of the services offered. After eight months of study, the task force appointed by County Executive Carol Kelso has come up with recommendations that were taken to the County Board on Wednesday. The bottom-line suggestions: Renovate and update the building that was constructed in 1967, while significantly downsizing the total inpatient population..."