Wednesday, February 25, 2004
States ask drug firms to report gifts to individual physiciansStory at
American Medical News - "...state legislators across the country are putting the doctor-detailer relationship under the microscope in hopes that this scrutiny will eventually lower prescription drug costs. The first step state lawmakers are taking is requiring companies to report how much sales representatives are spending and what they're spending it on. Sponsors of these bills acknowledge that they may not immediately lower costs, but new laws could cause a budget shift with less spent on marketing and more spent on samples, medical education support and research and development."
Dual Diagnosis in Provincial Psychiatric Hospitals: A Population-Based Study Year 1 Summary June 2003 A report in
Adobe Acrobat format at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health web site. CMHA's Mental Health Notes newsletter indicates that the study "...finds that as many as 13 percent of the patients in provincial psychiatric hospitals (PPH) have a dual diagnosis — both a developmental disability and a psychiatric disorder — and that, while these individuals require more intensive levels of care than other patients, they are less likely to receive the needed level of care." Please note that the term "dual diagnosis" has a different meaning in Canada than in the US, where it refers to co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders.
Business of Medicine Briefing: February 15, 2004A new feature in
Medscape Money & Medicine, the "Business of Medicine Briefing" is "a biweekly summary of major health and medical articles that appear in the lay and professional press" and replaces the "Money & Medicine Journal Scan." [Viewing
Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].
Antipsychotic drugs raise obesity, diabetes, heart disease risksHealth & Medicine Week story reprinted at the NAMI web site - "People who take antipsychotic drugs for the treatment of a variety of mental illnesses may be at increased risk for obesity, diabetes, and high cholesterol - all of which can lead to heart disease. Because of this, a joint panel of the American Diabetes Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, and the North American Association for the Study of Obesity has issued a consensus statement asking doctors to carefully screen and monitor patients on these medications for signs of rapid weight gain or other problems that could lead to diabetes, obesity and heart disease and refer them to specialists if necessary..."
Supportive Housing Financing Source Guide A guide (with special emphasis on programs in Arizona, California and Nevada), in
Adobe Acrobat format, from the Corporation for Supportive Housing - "The purpose of the Supportive Housing Financing Sources Guide is to help supportive housing sponsors identify potential financing and funding sources for supportive housing projects and programs. By providing both general information on categories of funding sources (what they are, how they flow, how to access them) and detailed information on more than 40 sources and initiatives with the greatest potential for providing significant project funding, it is hoped that the guide will serve as a resource for organizations seeking to expand the supply of supportive housing."
NMHA Awards Honor Outstanding Efforts in Mental Health Movement Fenruary 5 National Mental Health Association press release - "The National Mental Health Association invites nominations for several awards recognizing outstanding individual and organizational contributions to the mental health movement. ... The deadline for award nominations is March 10, 2004. Recipients will be honored during NMHA’s Annual Conference, June 9-12, 2004 in Washington, D.C." Further information and application forms are
available at the NMHA web site.
SAMHSA extends deadlines for network NOFAsSAMHSA press release - "The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), for Fiscal Year 2004, published four Standard Grant announcements, which established mandatory formatting requirements for all applications that would be processed in accordance with the terms of those standing announcements. The Standard Grant announcements did not directly solicit any applications. Rather, they are to be used in conjunction with Notices of Funding Availability (NOFAs), which solicit applications for specific opportunities pursuant to the Standard Announcements. Upon further consideration, SAMHSA believes the formatting requirements common to those announcements, and motivated by SAMHSA’s desire to assure equitable opportunity and a "level playing field" to all applicants, will not best serve the public until we revise and republish them. Accordingly, we will quickly revise the identical formatting discussions of all four standing grant program announcements and republish them in their entirety for ease of the users." The immediately effected announcements are SM 04-003: Statewide Consumer Network Grants, and SM 04-004: Statewide Family Network Grants.
Study shows women's medication use higher than expectedUniversity of Minnesota press release at
EurekAlert - "Women's use of all medications--including herbal supplements--is higher than anticipated, and they're unlikely to tell their health care providers about the medications they take, according to a University of Minnesota researcher. A study being published in the Feb. 24 issue of
American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology determined that that health care providers need to spend more time asking about medication usage. ... Researchers also found that nearly 25 percent of patients took medications for anxiety, depression or other mental health issues. Of patients who used oral contraception, 2.3 percent took St. John's wort, which can reduce the efficacy of the birth control pill. The study also found several women taking prescription antidepressants also self-medicated with St. John's wort, an herbal supplement commonly used to treat depression, which has been shown to have potentially harmful interactions with prescription antidepressants."
