Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Editor's note: daily email subscriptions
Readers who have subscribed to the daily email service have no doubt noticed that they have not been receiving daily updates for some time now. The issues which created the problem seem to have (finally!) been resolved, and that service should resume tomorrow. If you have signed up for the daily email service and continue to not receive it, please contact me directly. My apologies for the inconvenience...... Bill Davis, Editor.   
  

Wisconsin Counties Begin Charging Copayments for Behavioral Health Medications
Item at the highly recommended Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, based on reporting in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel - "Some Wisconsin counties are requiring copayments for prescription drugs to maintain programs that provide mental health treatment to low-income residents who do not qualify for Medicaid or Medicare, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Waukesha County, which provides mental health medications to more than 500 patients, on Feb. 1 implemented a copay of $15 for each mental health prescription or refill, which patients previously received without charge...."  
  

US Lawmaker Seeks Data on Antidepressants for Kids
Reuters Health story at Medscape - "A U.S. lawmaker asked four drug makers on Tuesday to tell a House committee about any unpublished clinical trials involving antidepressant treatment for children amid a probe into whether some drugs raise the risk of suicide in youngsters. Pennsylvania Republican Rep. James Greenwood, head of the House Energy and Commerce investigations subcommittee, said in a letter to the pharmaceutical companies that he wanted the data "in light of protecting the public health of children and/or the need to expedite public and physician confidence in the use of antidepressants." The letters were sent to Eli Lilly and Co., Wyeth, GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Pfizer Inc. Drug makers are not required to release findings from studies not published in medical journals, which has upset critics who charge the companies with keeping unfavorable data secret." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Systematic Case Studies in Program Evaluation
This link leads to the table of contents for the current issue of Evaluation and Program Planning, where summaries, abstracts and full text are listed for Part Two (published this month) of a special section on Systematic Case Studies in Program Evaluation (see the rationale and introduction). At the moment, full text is available at no charge for all the articles listed, many of which will be of interest to PULSE readers. See especially (these links go to the "Summary Plus" for each article - the abstract and hypertext links to full text) Using key component profiles for the evaluation of program implementation in intensive mental health case management; The substance abuse services cost analysis program (SASCAP): a new method for estimating drug treatment services costs, and Publishing systematic, pragmatic case studies in program evaluation: collatoral on a `promisory note'.  
  

CSC Welcomes Report on Federal Women Offenders (Canada)
Government of Canada press release, called to our attention by the CMHA newsletter Mental Health Notes - "The Government of Canada welcomed today the release of the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) report entitled Protecting Their Rights, A Systemic Review of Human Rights in Correctional Services for Federally Sentenced Women. The CHRC proceeded with this review of the treatment of women offenders as a result of issues raised by various non-governmental organizations." See also, at the Canadian Human Rights Commission web site, two background documents (Release of the Report and Recommendations of the Special Report) and the full report itself, Protecting Their Rights, A Systemic Review of Human Rights in Correctional Services for Federally Sentenced Women, which is available in both a web version and in Adobe Acrobat format.  
  

Nominations sought for CMHA Achievement Awards (Canada)
A page at the CMHA web site indexing resources related to the awards - "The Canadian Mental Health Association, Ontario recognizes the outstanding achievement of its volunteers, staff, consumers, and organizations who contribute to the important work of enhancing mental health for the people of Ontario." See also the Call for Nominations, the Award Categories and Nomination Rules.    
  

Helfer to lead restructuring of social services (New York)
Buffalo News story - "Erie County is moving full steam ahead with its ambitious effort to completely revamp the way it delivers services to more than 10,000 children and families countywide. Starting today, County Executive Joel A. Giambra is tapping a new man to run the county's Department of Social Services and is charging him with the task of creating a new Department of Family Services and Community Health by the start of next year. The new department will oversee and redefine five existing county departments: Health, Mental Health, Social Services, Senior Services and Probation..."  
  

Mentally ill patients were abused (UK)
BBC story - "Elderly patients on a hospital ward in Manchester were slapped, stamped on, starved and in one case deliberately scalded, according to an internal inquiry. The report also found that other patients on Rowan Ward at Withington Hospital suffered harm through neglect. No member of staff has been successfully disciplined despite also being heavily criticised in an external report last September. Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust was criticised for a 'total management failure' following its publication..."  
  

Mental health services united (Louisiana)
Times-Picayune story - " Helping people with mental problems before they become severe will be one of the main thrusts of a new state agency created by the Legislature last year. The Metropolitan Human Services District, expected to be in operation by July, will cover Orleans, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes. While new to those three parishes, both Jefferson Parish and Baton Rouge have already successfully taken local control of mental health services and consolidated them under a single umbrella. The system will coordinate services for people with developmental disabilities, psychiatric disorders and drug and other addictions. The agency will assume local control of three subdivisions of the state health department..."  
  

Bill exempts mental health in hiring freeze (Mississippi)
Clarion-Ledger story - " The Mississippi Department of Mental Health would be exempted from a temporary hiring freeze, based on an amended bill the state House passed Monday. House Bill 805 originally passed the 122-member chamber Friday to include a freeze on new equipment purchases, too. The temporary freeze is expected to save the state $8 million to $14 million through June 30, the end of the current fiscal year. The bill was amended at the request of Rep. Bobby Moody, D-Louisville. ...Moody said his amendment could immediately affect the hiring of up to 25 mental health workers, including nurses and pharmacists. The positions are critical for the agency and the jobs are 'very stressful,'' he said."