Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Law is introduced in US Congress to give access to details of clinical trials
British Medical Journal story - "Public access to information on clinical trials and their outcomes would become universal and unfettered in the United States under a proposed law that was introduced in the House of Representatives and the Senate earlier this month. The Fair Access to Clinical Trials Act would require registration of all human clinical trials involving drugs, “biologics” (blood products, vaccines, gene therapy tissue, and so on), and medical devices at an online database operated by the National Institutes of Health (www.clinicaltrials.gov). It would require institutional review boards to deny a trial a stamp of approval unless it was registered in the database. And it outlines the types of information that would have to be provided under that registration."  
  

Tilting at windmills: health reform and the 2004 US presidential election
Article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal - "Health reform is once again a front-page story in the United States. This is hardly a surprise: since 1970, US health policy has followed a predictable (and seemingly unending) cycle of discovering a crisis in the health system, identifying and debating policy solutions, ultimately doing little or nothing in the way of reform while extolling the virtues of markets and state innovation, only to rediscover later that the system is still in crisis. Having rejected the health reforms proposed by President Bill Clinton in 1993, which would have created a system of universal health insurance through and employer mandate, and having largely ignored the issue for the ensuing decade, the US finds itself (again) with a troubled health system badly in need of reform..."  
  

Ten-Item Questionnaire Identifies Prepubertal and Early Adolescent Mania
Reuters Health story at Medscape - "A commonly used 10-item questionnaire is easy for parents to administer and helps clinicians discern between bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in prepubertal and early adolescent patients, according to investigators from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. They presented their findings here at the 51st annual meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Treatment sometimes absent for children of mothers with mental illness
News-Medical.net story - "Children who have a mother diagnosed with a mental illness are at risk of psychiatric and behavioral problems, yet these children often fail to receive needed services, a new University of Michigan study indicates. 'These high-risk children do not necessarily get the services they may need to improve their lives, even though their parent is receiving treatment for mental health problems,' said Carol Mowbray, a U-M social work professor. One factor might involve the mother’s mental health care provider, who neglects to ask if she is a parent, she said." Mowbray was the lead author for the paper, 'Children of mothers diagnosed with serious mental illness: Patterns and predictors of service use' published recently in Mental Health Services Research, where an abstract is available at no charge.  
  

Mental health support lacking, says critic (New Zealand)
Wairarapa Times story - "The spate of suicides in Wairarapa in recent weeks is largely due to the prolonged delay in establishing a good sound mental health policy that could provide quality back-up to at-risk people, Masterton man Peter Teahan said yesterday. Mr Teahan said for those who have attempted suicide and for the family of those who have died, it is equally tragic, and he is aware of cases where people have been left to carry on life without the appropriate support. ... Mr Teahan is an outspoken critic of the lack of social services support through his 25 years experience of fostering children with his wife..."  
  

County’s mental health department faces shortfall (Pennsylvania)
Clarion News story - "After 10 months of financial stability, Clarion County is facing up to $150,000 in overspending in the mental health department – a burden which falls on the county. 'The county does have to fund the shortfall,' said Clarion County Director of Central Accounting R. Scott Keefer. According to Keefer, the county must make up the difference out of the 2004 budget because the shortfall deals with a county agency. The overspending for mental health took place during the July 2003 through June 2004 fiscal year. Keefer credits the overspending to last year’s mental health fiscal budget plan..."