Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Keeping Families Together Act Re-Introduced Joint press release of the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, NAMI, the NMHA and the Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health - "Lawmakers today will reintroduce legislation to address barriers that have led thousands of families to relinquish custody of children with mental or emotional disorders to access scarce mental health services. 'Families don’t need any more excuses,' said Trina Osher, a spokesperson for the Campaign for Mental Health Reform and Coordinator of Policy & Research at the Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health. 'Families need to know that 2005 will be the year Congress walks the walk on family values. Lawmakers need to take action this year, so not one more American family has to make the agonizing choice between relinquishing custody and denying their children the services and supports they need.' "  
  

Telepsychiatry's Untapped Potential: When Will It Pay to Deliver? Psychiatric Times article - "Telepsychiatry holds the promise of providing a link between urban areas with a high concentration of psychiatrists and rural areas in dire need of specialists to provide consultations to clinicians and direct services to patients. Widespread adoption of telepsychiatry programs would allow specialists to consult on care to geriatric patients, children, prison populations, military veterans and others groups with access problems. The technology continues to improve, and equipment costs have dropped dramatically in recent years. Video conferencing equipment that cost $30,000 three years ago now costs about $10,000. However, making the connection is not as easy as it might seem. The technology's potential remains largely untapped, in part, because payors are reluctant to embrace it. Consequently, many programs end when their grant funding ends..."  
  

Busting Through: Leading the Fight Against Stigma Schizophrenia Digest story reprinted at the NAMI web site - "Stella March spent much of her working life in the advertising business, and devoted her off time to fighting for a variety of causes. So when schizophrenia struck her family, the Los Angeles resident combined her professional background and personal advocacy into a campaign that ultimately targeted perhaps the largest obstacle facing people with mental illness—the stigma that permeates popular culture."  
  

Using the internet's power and anonymity to reduce problem drinking University of Texas School of Public Health press release - "Computers, and the internet, have become an integral part of North American life, whether located at home, school or the workplace. At least 80 percent of internet 'surfers' in the United States have reportedly used the internet to access health information. Symposium proceedings published in the February issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research describe several alcohol interventions – based on in-person brief motivational interventions (BMIs) – that are currently offered via the internet."  
  

Alcohol's damaging effects on adolescent brain function Brown University press release - "The adolescent brain is designed to learn; yet the same plasticity that facilitates neuromaturation also renders it particularly vulnerable to the damaging effects of alcohol. Symposium speakers at the June 2004 Research Society on Alcoholism meeting in Vancouver, B.C. presented both animal and human research that clearly implicates alcohol use as a source of brain damage during these critical formative years. Proceedings are published in the February issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research."  
  

South Carolina Policy More Humane Rock Hill Herald story reprinted at MentalHelpNet - "The mentally ill do not belong in jail, and yet that is exactly where many of them end up in South Carolina. Six bills now pending in the General Assembly would streamline procedures to provide better solutions. Too often, police have few alternatives but to take the mentally ill people and drug addicts they pick up to jail. In doing so, police often must stay with the prisoner, sometimes for hours, until the suspect can be processed. And once in jail, those who need medical help often don't get it for days..."  
  

Worry Spreads Over GI Drug Side Effects AP story at InteliHealth - "Some current or former troops sent to Iraq claim that Lariam, the commercial name for the anti-malarial drug mefloquine, has provoked disturbing and dangerous behavior. The families of some troops blame the drug for the suicides of their loved ones. ... Further blurring the issue, the side effects associated with Lariam closely mirror symptoms of stress disorders related to combat, making diagnosis difficult. Still, the pill has dedicated critics who believe it's causing problems that are only beginning to be understood. A review by the Department of Veterans' Affairs found 34 articles in medical journals about patients who took Lariam and became paranoid, psychotic or behaved strangely."  
  

Budget cuts FDA safety checks  USA Today story - "The Food and Drug Administration's proposed budget for next year includes cuts to nearly all its inspection programs, from checks on imported food to reviews of overseas plants that make prescription drugs bound for the USA. ... The reductions are included in a $1.9 billion budget that gives the agency an overall 4.5% increase. Increases are earmarked for several projects, including expansion of a network of labs to analyze food for bioterror agents and increasing staffing in the office that monitors the safety of prescription drugs once they hit the market."  
  

Bush Nominates FDA Acting Chief To Be Permanent Head of Agency Washington Post story - "Lester M. Crawford, who has been running the Food and Drug Administration as acting commissioner during a period when the agency was repeatedly buffeted by drug safety controversies and unprecedented internal dissent, was chosen yesterday by President Bush to be permanent head of the agency. The nomination was applauded by pharmaceutical industry trade organizations, which said Crawford brings deep experience and a cool head to the job. Lester M. Crawford, the acting FDA commissioner, has run the agency in a time of contention over drug safety. But some public-interest health groups, as well as some members of Congress, voiced deep reservations. They said Crawford has not aggressively attacked drug safety problems, has allowed some internal dissent to be stifled and has shown a tendency to buckle in the face of political pressure." [Viewing Washington Post stories requires registration, which is free.]  
  

Mental health coverage costs argued (Maine) Bangor Daily News story - "State officials say the cash-strapped MaineCare program would save about a million dollars a year if private insurance companies paid for mental health services as mandated by the Maine Legislature in 2003. But at a public hearing Monday in Augusta, insurers and the business community argued that forcing the issue will drive up the price of health coverage for all Mainers and end up costing the state more than it saves. A provision of Gov. John Baldacci's proposed biennial budget specifies exactly which mental health services must be covered by any commercial insurance company doing business in Maine..."