Thursday, February 19, 2004

When a Person is Arrested: How to Help
A handbook (in Adobe Acrobat format) that is a joint project of NAMI New York State and the Urban Justice Center Mental Health Project. The NAMI web site notes, " In this handbook you will find general advice as to what procedures to follow when a person with mental illness is arrested. This handbook covers information that will answer questions such what to do, how to find a person who has been arrested, working with a defense attorney, practical tips on dealing with defense attorneys, laws relating to people with mental illness, advocating for a defendant to be sentenced to treatment, advocating for discharge planning, advocating for someone on probation or parole, clearing up a warrant, and so much more."  
  

Medicaid's Federal-State Partnership: Alternatives for Improving Financial Integrity
A report (in Adobe Acrobat format) from Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured - "As the federal government increases its scrutiny of state financing of the Medicaid program, this paper, authored by a former CMS official, evaluates the existing financial management of the Medicaid program. Using existing models from the private sector and the government, the paper identifies alternatives to improve Medicaid's financial management without changing Medicaid's existing financing structure. The alternatives would reduce the Medicaid program's exposure to questionable practices, help control federal costs, and make the financial management of the program more comparable with that of the private sector."  
  

Clinical Research "Undernourished" in U.S. Health System
Medscape Medical News story - "A scarcity of clinical investigators to conduct research that translates basic scientific discoveries into proven clinical therapies is limiting the impact of important advances in medicine, a leading medical educator warned. 'This undernourished part of the U.S. health care system is the critical link that provides the only mechanism to develop the evidence needed to define effective health strategies and monitor the effectiveness of strategies,' writes Ralph Snyderman, MD, president and chief executive officer of the Duke University Health System in Durham, North Carolina. He is the author of an editorial in the Feb. 18 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association. A study on grants funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) appears in the same issue of the journal." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].