Thursday, October 21, 2004

State Health Facts
This outstanding web site from the Kaiser Family Foundation has been redesigned and its data updated - "Data presented on statehealthfacts.org are a selection of key health and health policy issues collected from a variety of public and private sources, including: original Kaiser Family Foundation reports, data from public websites, and information purchased from private organizations. To improve users ability to make comparisons across the states, statehealthfacts.org attempts to provide information that is collected with a consistent methodology across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. As a result, information on statehealthfact.org is often obtained from Federal data sources, many of which are not able to collect sufficiently large estimates of particular racial/ethnic groups in every state."  
  

Nearly 1.7 Million Veterans Lack Health Care, Report Finds
Reuters Health story at Medscape - "Nearly 1.7 million U.S. veterans under the age of 65 had no health care coverage in 2003 -- no access to private insurance, to Medicare or Medicaid or to the Veterans Affairs health program -- health care advocates said on Tuesday. Many had seen combat in Vietnam or the Gulf Wars and most were employed, the Physicians for a National Health Program and Public Citizen said in a joint report." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free]. The full report, America’s Neglected Veterans: 1.7 Million Who Served Have No Health Coverage, is available in Adobe Acrobat format from the Physicians for a National Health Program web site.  
  

National Estimates of Mental Health Insurance Benefits
HHS Study (94 pages, in Adobe Acrobat format) - "This study provides estimates of the number of individuals in the United States in 1999 who had mental health benefits as a part of their health insurance coverage, the subset of those individuals who had mental health benefits that met or exceeded a benchmark level of generosity, the number of individuals with parity in their mental health benefits, and the number of individuals potentially subject to state and Federal mental health parity laws. Mental health benefits are assessed in terms of the types of services covered (inpatient c a re, outpatient care, and prescription d rugs), dollar limits (annual expenditure s and lifetime expenditures), utilization limits (number of days of inpatient care and number of outpatient visits), and cost sharing (deductibles, co-insurance, and co-payments)..."  
  

Medicaid overhaul outlined (New Hampshire)
Concord Monitor story - "Gov. Craig Benson has proposed a series of sweeping changes to New Hampshire's Medicaid program and he wants to begin working immediately with federal health officials to implement them. Benson's overhaul would reduce the state' s nursing home population by one-third, set up private health accounts for pregnant women and families with children, and give the state more control over how disabled people get medical care, among other changes. The proposal, outlined in a 15-page report sent to health officials in Washington last month, has not been made public yet. For months, legislators, Medicaid recipients and their advocates have awaited word on the proposed changes. The Monitor obtained a copy of Benson's report earlier this week."  
  

State rejects payment cuts for Medicaid (Indiana)
Indianapolis Star story - "The state reversed itself Tuesday on a cut in Medicaid reimbursement for in-patient psychiatric care after hospital representatives showed it would reduce the number of Indiana's mental health beds. If the cut in the daily reimbursement rates were to take effect Nov. 1, as originally planned, at least seven general hospitals and three community mental health centers across Indiana would reduce or close their psychiatric units, and all five for-profit psychiatric hospitals would close their children's units, a study showed."  
  

Antipsychotic Drugs Linked to Insulin Resistance in Children
Ascribe Newswire story reprinted at PsycPORT - "Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center say a group of drugs known as "atypical antipsychotics" that are commonly used to treat children with aggression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia may trigger insulin resistance, a condition that increases the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes and heart disease later in life. Results of the study linking insulin resistance to the use of these antipsychotics are scheduled for presentation October 20th during the annual meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Washington, D.C. ..."  
  

DEA Withdraws Its Support Of Guidelines on Painkillers
Washington Post story reprinted at PsycPORT - "The Drug Enforcement Administration has reversed its support for a set of negotiated guidelines designed to end a controversy over the arrests of hundreds of pain specialists who prescribed powerful narcotics for their patients. The agency took the document off its Web site earlier this month, less than two months after announcing it with great fanfare. In rescinding its endorsement, the DEA wrote on its Web site that the 31-page document 'contained misstatements' and 'was not approved as an official statement of the agency.' The agency declined to give any more specifics, saying that it hoped to issue a statement 'in one or two weeks.' Worried doctors who had worked on crafting the 'consensus' document -- written over the past year by DEA officials and prominent pain management specialists -- criticized the agency's unannounced decision to disavow it. They said they were given no explanation or told whether the agency had changed its position on the contentious question of when and how doctors can prescribe the popular painkillers without risking prosecution."  
  

Pediatricians Feel Unprepared To Treat Mental Illness
Psychiatry News story - "Pediatricians surveyed in North Carolina would like more education about psychopharmacology and diagnosing and treating anxiety and depression, a recent study finds. A survey of pediatricians indicates that 15 percent of the children they see in their practices have moderate to mild behavioral problems, but many say they feel unprepared to diagnose and treat these disorders adequately. The disorders they diagnosed frequently or occasionally, usually with the help of standardized instruments such as questionnaires, were attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, and anxiety. Forty-seven pediatricians in primary care practices in North Carolina were interviewed by researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. The results were published in the September Pediatrics."  
  

House Defeats Hasty Amendment Barring Mental Health Screenings
Psychiatry News story - "The House of Representatives shows little enthusiasm for a proposal that, based on faulty premises, would have barred the use of federal dollars to conduct mental health screenings. APA had a hand in defeating an amendment to a bill under consideration in the House of Representatives that would have prohibited the use of federal funds for nationwide mental health screenings. Ron Paul (R-Tex.), a gynecologist, was the author of the amendment, which had been tacked on to an appropriations bill funding the departments of Labor and Health and Human Services. Among the concerns that he said led him to introduce his proposal, Paul cited the call for such a screening program in the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, published last year. In fact, the report nowhere says that the federal government should sponsor widespread mental health screenings."  
  

Suicide-prevention bill goes to Bush for signature today
Story in The Oregonian - "President Bush this morning plans to sign a suicide-prevention bill that honors the late son of Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., and focuses national attention on an issue that has gone largely overlooked in the 2004 campaign: mental health. The Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act authorizes $82 million to help youths at risk of committing suicide. Calling the legislation a 'good beginning,' Smith pledged to continue working as an advocate for the mentally ill."  
  

New chair for Mental Health Commission (New Zealand)
Story at Scoop - "Workbridge chief executive Ruth Harrison will chair the Mental Health Commission from January next year, says Health Minister Annette King. Ms Harrison, who replaces current chair Jan Dowland, has 27 years’ experience in management and leadership, Ms King says. ... The Mental Health Commission was established in 1996 in response to the recommendations of the Mason Inquiry into Mental Health Services. In 1998 the Commission produced the Blueprint for Mental Health Services, a policy document that guides the implementation of the national mental health strategy."  
  

HHS Awards $26 Million in Grants for Children's Mental Health and Substance Abuse State Infrastructure Development
PR Newswire press release reprinted at Yahoo - "Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced the award of seven grants totaling $26 million over five years to strengthen state support of local systems of coordinated care for children and youth who suffer from co-occurring mental and substance use disorders. The grants will be provided over five years to strengthen the capacity of states, territories and American Indian tribal governments. They will be administered by HHS' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)..."