Friday, June 18, 2004

Pharmacotherapy for Patients With Eating Disorders
Special Report in Psychiatric Times - "Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder remain challenging disorders for the practicing psychiatrist. While psychopharmacological agents play an important role in the overall treatment of eating disorders, current empirical evidence does not support their sole use. A recipe consisting of evidence-based psychopharmacological agents together with evidence-based psychotherapeutic approaches is usually required for a successful outcome."  
  

Health Care Access For Low-Income People: Significant Safety Net Gaps Remain
An Issue Brief from the Center for Studying Health System Change - "Despite signs that low-income and uninsured people's access to primary health care services has improved, serious gaps in care exist, especially for specialty physician, mental health and dental care, according to the Center for Studying Health System Change's (HSC) 2002-03 site visits to 12 nationally representative communities. Key factors contributing to these gaps in the safety net include declining private physician and dentist involvement, changes in funding and facilities, and more people in need. Community leaders have developed a variety of innovative strategies to add specialty, mental health and dental services but could benefit from more support from state and federal policy makers."  
  

Patterns of Mental Health Service Utilization and Substance Use Among Adults, 2000 and 2001
SAMHSA OAS report - "This report presents estimates of the prevalence of mental health treatment among adults and describes the types of treatment received and the characteristics of persons receiving treatment based on data from the 2000 and 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA). The NHSDA, which was renamed the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) in 2002, is a nationally representative survey of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population aged 12 or older and is conducted annually by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Summary results from the 2002 NSDUH were released in September 2003 (Office of Applied Studies [OAS], 2003). The more extensive analysis of the 2000–2001 data presented in this report is not comparable with the analysis of data from the 2002 survey because of methodological improvements made in the survey in 2002 that affected prevalence estimates."  
  

Evidence-Based Medicine in Psychiatry -- A New Perspective
An Expert Interview With Ranga Krishnanpublished in May in Medscape Psychiatry & Mental Health - "Evidence-based medicine is becoming an important framework in psychiatry to help the clinician understand and use the current research in the field. Robert Kennedy, Medscape Psychiatry & Mental Health editor, discussed applying evidence-based medicine to psychiatry with Ranga Krishnan, MB, ChB, Professor and Chair, Department of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Faxing Patients' Protected Health Information
An "Ask the Experts about HIPAA Compliance" article at Medscape - "There is controversy about what is an acceptable transmission of patient information by fax under HIPAA's medical privacy rule. If an insurance company requests a copy of a claim by fax, is this compliant? If another person in our organization is performing audits and requests a copy of patient information (chart, claims, encounters, etc.), can this be sent by fax?" [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Charting a course for improved public health
Article in the June APA Monitor - "National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Elias A. Zerhouni, MD, has set his sights on increasing the pace of medical progress. So, with help from a team of 300 scientists, industry leaders, government officials and the public, he has mapped out a path of scientific discovery with the goal of giving scientists in the public sphere new tools for doing molecular-level research and translating discoveries into clinical applications. The plan, first introduced in 2003 and known as the NIH Roadmap, provides an outline of 28 cross-institutional projects. Its details are still being fleshed out, but through it, Zerhouni seeks to bring together scientists from different disciplines to tackle obesity and other such knotty public health problems that result from multiple interacting factors, including behavioral ones..."  
  

Prevalence Studies of Substance-Related Disorders: A Systematic Review of the Literature
Article in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry - "This is the third in a series of papers that present systematic reviews of the prevalence and incidence of psychiatric disorders drawn from studies published between the years January 1, 1980, and December 31, 2000. The series discusses the implications of these epidemiologic findings for mental health policy and practice."  
  

The Impact of Recent Changes in Health Care Coverage for Low-Income People: A First Look at the Research Following Changes in Oregon's Medicaid Program
An issue paper, in Adobe Acrobat format, from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured - "Oregon recently restructured its Medicaid program through a Section 1115 waiver and other program changes, largely in response to particularly difficult state budget problems. This report summarizes key findings on the impact of Oregon's changes, based on work conducted by a research collaborative within the state. The experience in Oregon may be instructive, as other states have implemented or are considering implementing similar changes."