Wednesday, November 06, 2002

Oregon Health Plan Defeated
Stateline.org story on how Oregon voters "gave a resounding 'no' to a proposed single-payer health insurance system Tuesday" due to "what critics called flawed and vague language in the proposal," but notes that "backers of universal health coverage vowed to try again in 2004."  
  

Taking a New Look at Psychosis in Alzheimer's Disease
Article by Robert A. Sweet in the latest Psychiatric Times which examines the proposal that "Alzheimer's disease with psychosis (AD+P) has an underlying genetic and neurobiologic basis distinct from that of AD without psychosis." See also, in the same issue, Wadie Najim's Using Complimentary Treatments in which "scientific evidence for the 13 dietary supplements most commonly used for memory impairment is analyzed and evaluated."  
  

Medicare Home Health Agencies: Weaknesses in Federal and State Oversight Mask Potential Quality Issues
A July 2002 GAO report now available from Open Minds. See also the page at the Open Minds site that provides an overview of the report - "Although HHA surveys conducted nationwide since 1998 identified a small proportion of HHAs with serious, COP-level deficiencies, there is evidence suggesting that the extent of serious care problems may be understated and that situations endangering the health and well-being of home health patients may occur more often than documented."  
  

Washington County voters nix Mental Health Levy (Ohio)
Story in the Parkersburg News & Sentinel - "In its second attempt at passage this year, the Washington County Mental Health Levy was defeated by voters in Tuesday's general election. In Washington County, the number of people seeking mental health treatment or addiction recovery assistance has been growing by large amounts in the past few years while the funding for such programs has remained stagnant or, more seriously, has been cut. Voters were asked to approve a mental health levy to address the growing need for those services and the decreases in funding to provide them."  
  

CDC Funds Nine State Coalitions to Address Domestic Violence Prevention
CDC press release on recent awards of more than $2.6 million to nine state domestic violence coalitions "to help develop and coordinate activities to prevent domestic violence in communities across the country." The story notes that victims of abuse have higher rates of many conditions, including multiple mental health problems such as PTSD, depression, panic attacks and insomnia.  
  

Warren County vote carries mental health levy (Ohio)
Wilmington News Journal story on a 1-mill replacement levy placed on the ballot by Mental Health Recovery Services of Warren & Clinton Counties that will help Recovery Services "avert a deficit that would have cost the agency 28 doctors, nurses, counselors and psychologists."