Thursday, April 15, 2004

Study: Medicaid Privatization Hurt Schizophrenics
Health Scout News story in the Atlanta Journal Constitution - "Poor schizophrenics were left out in the cold when Tennessee health officials decided to subcontract their care to save money, say researchers who warn that similar policies in other states could put others at risk. "If you need to change the financial arrangements, there should be provisions to protect these kinds of vulnerable patients," said study co-author Wayne Ray, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Sixteen states subcontract -- or "carve out" -- Medicaid mental-health services, which provide medical services for the poor. Tennessee transferred its mental health services to two HMOs in 1996, paying them a fixed amount for each patient regardless of how serious his or her condition was...." The study's findings are reported in the May 8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.  
  

Legislature shouldn't erect barriers to mental health care (Florida)
Opinion piece in the Tallahassie Democrat by Wayne Dreggors, chairman of the Florida Council for Behavioral Healthcare - " lorida legislators have a proposal before them that would change the course of the state's public behavioral health care through a last-minute amendment aimed at cutting Medicaid expenditures for mental-health and substance-abuse services. An amendment hashed out behind closed doors and tucked into HB 1843, the Medicaid budget 'conforming bill,' would reverse a law passed last year in full sunshine. If adopted by both chambers, the amendment also would reverse more than 20 years of mental-health policy in Florida..."