Monday, June 06, 2005

New Medicaid Program Will Help Improve Quality of Care for Patients With Mental Illness (Michigan) PR Newswire story at Yahoo - "The Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) has launched an innovative educational program that strives to improve the quality of care for Medicaid patients with mental illness. The Michigan Pharmacy Quality Improvement Project (PQIP), which began in May, is a two-year educational program that will analyze the prescribing of mental health medications for Medicaid members and identify prescribing patterns inconsistent with evidence-based guidelines. When needed, physicians will be provided with educational materials and client survey information as well as peer-to-peer consultation."  
  

Mental health services take hit with Medicaid changes (Washington) Story in The Olympian - "As many as 1,500 people could lose mental health services at the end of the month, when changes in the way federal Medicaid dollars can be spent locally make it illegal to use the money for that purpose. The policy changes mean Thurston County's public mental health system will have about $1 million less to work with each year. Mental health services make up more than half the county's public health and social services budget. None of the money for mental health care comes from the county."