was published in late June and has already received a great deal of praise ("Brilliant" - Fran Silvestri, Director: International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership; "A triumphant inaugural issue" - Paul Lefkovitz, CEO: Behavioral Pathway Systems; "Very useful..." - Elaine Alfano, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law). The PQB comes bundled with two other services, the "PULSE Bulletin" (40 issues/year) and "Recent Resources" (10 issues /year) and organizational subscriptions include access to a set of Internet-based tools for distributing news and announcements. For details on subscriptions, please see the new
.
Monday, August 01, 2005
Dual Eligibles: Medicaid’s Role for Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries Fact sheet (in PDF format) from the Kaiser Family Foundation - "This fact sheet describes the over 7.5 million 'dual eligibles,' the low-income elderly and persons with disabilities who are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid, why this population needs Medicaid, what services they receive from Medicaid, and the current policy challenges related to dual eligibles, including the new Medicare prescription drug benefit."
State of California Medi-Cal Redesign Report (in PDF format) called to our attention by
Open Minds - "California’s Medi-Cal Program provides medical assistance for qualified individuals with low income under Title XIX of the Federal Social Security Act. The California Department of Health Services (DHS) administers the program with the federal government providing a matching Medicaid reimbursement rate of 50 percent. Currently, Medi-Cal provides health care services to 6.6 million Californians – just under one in five Californians receive their health coverage through the Medi-Cal program. Medi-Cal has been providing health care services to Californians since 1965. It is the health care funding source for low-income children, their parents, pregnant women, and seniors and persons with disabilities. In addition to providing those benefits that are required by federal law, California is one of eight States that provide a wide range of optional benefits. "
State of Georgia Gap Analysis for Mental Health Services - Final Report Index of the final report to the state of Georgia from APS Healthcare, called to our attention by
Open Minds - "Established by a Federal mandate, Georgia’s Mental Health Planning and Advisory Council has the oversight responsibility for providing ongoing guidance to the Department of Human Resources, Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Disease (DMHDDAD) on services and system design throughout the state. The Mental Health Planning and Advisory Council requested a Gap Analysis of the mental health delivery system that serves Georgia. This Mental Health Gap Analysis provides a comprehensive assessment of the state’s publicly funded mental health system, the system of care paid for by federal, state, and local tax dollars to support adults with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) and children and adolescents with Serious Emotional Disorders (SED)." The link above points to an HTML version. The report is also available in
PDF format.
Mental health courts require access to effective community mental health services Item in CMHA/Ontario
Mental Health Notes - "People who were diverted through a mental health court did not experience reductions in psychiatric symptoms, suggesting the need for more effective and adequate community mental health services, according to a recent study in Psychiatric Services. According to the authors, a variety of studies have demonstrated that diverting defendants with mental illness from the criminal justice system into mental health treatment result in increased access to treatment and better quality of life. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the increased access to mental health services achieved through diversion resulted in improved clinical outcomes for defendants with mental illness."
Strategies for a participant-centred approach to research Item in CMHA/Ontario's
Mental Health Notes - "Conducting a participant-centred research study with people with severe and persistent mental illness who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless requires fundamental changes in research design and methods, according to an article in the
Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation. The paper appears in a special issue of the journal focusing on the Community Mental Health Evaluation Initiative (CMHEI), which evaluated the effectiveness of various community mental health programs. This paper is based on research on the intensive case management (ICM) program of the Canadian Mental Health Association, Ottawa Branch, conducted jointly by CMHA and the Centre for Research on Community Services at the University of Ottawa. "
Homelessness, mental illness and substance abuse increase incarceration time Item in CMHA/Ontario's
Mental Health Notes based on an article in the July Psychiatric Services - " A study published in Psychiatric Services suggests that individuals who are homeless and have severe mental disorders with co-occurring substance-related disorders stay longer in jail than others charged with similar crimes. This study was designed to assess the relationships between homelessness, mental disorder and amount of time spent incarcerated..."
Securing better mental health for older adults (UK) A document from the UK Department of Health that "marks the start of a new initiative to combine forces across mental health and older people’s services to ensure that older people with mental illness do not miss out on the improved services that younger adults or those without mental illness have seen. It provides a vision for how all mainstream health and social care services, with the support of specialist services, should work together to secure better mental health for older adults, and describes how the Department of Health is aiming to help deliver this." The link above leads to an HTML version of the document, which is also available in
PDF format.
Magnetic Stimulation of the Brain for Depression Health News Digest story reprinted at
PsycPORT - "Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is well established for treating depression and other psychiatric disorders. Though effective, ECT produces short-term confusion and occasionally some memory loss, and patients require general anesthesia and muscle relaxants. Now a growing body of research suggests that new techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) may offer less disruptive ways to use electromagnetic energy against depression, schizophrenia, and other psychiatric disorders, reports the August issue of the
Harvard Mental Health Letter."
Premiums for the Poor Washington Post editorial - "The notion of asking Medicaid recipients to pay more toward their health care has a lot of intuitive appeal. Rapidly growing costs for the health care program for the poor are straining state budgets across the country, as well as the federal government's. In private insurance programs, co-payments, deductibles and other cost-sharing mechanisms have helped make patients more informed and cost-conscious consumers. It's not surprising, then, that the nation's governors are pressing for more flexibility to require Medicaid recipients to pay more for their care as well. But the evidence from states that have adopted such cost-cutting measures suggests that any changes should be made only with extreme caution. Those considering changes in the program must make certain that the payments -- even if they don't appear burdensome -- don't prevent recipients from getting needed services and don't backfire by resulting in more expensive emergency room and hospital care."
Ruling leaves fate of sickest TennCare enrollees uncertain (Tennessee) Story in
The Tennessean - "A federal judge's ruling yesterday afternoon leaves unclear what will happen to about 97,000 of the sickest TennCare enrollees who are due to lose access to state-paid prescription-drug coverage come Monday. Saying he was ruling as quickly as possible before those changes are to take effect, U.S. District Judge John Nixon gave the go-ahead to part of the state's plans to enact cost-saving drug-management tools. State officials have said those tools are key to overhauling TennCare — and sparing 97,000 people from cuts. However, Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz said last night that he was unsure whether yesterday's partial ruling will help avert the changes to come for the "medically needy" — a special category of TennCare enrollees whom Gov. Phil Bredesen has said are the sickest people on the program."
