Monday, November 11, 2002

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Examines New Medicaid Rules for Children's Mental Health Care
Item at the Kaiser Network Daily Health Policy Report on the newspaper's investigation of a state contract with First Health Services of Arkansas, a subsidiary of Illinois-based First Health Group, intended to determine which requests by providers for children's mental health treatments were medically necessary -- "but providers say required paperwork under the system is 'too time-consuming,' denial of payment 'has become routine' and certain diagnoses and treatments are 'unfairly targeted'.."  
  

Police, fire do their part to deal with mental health crisis (Minnesota)
Minneapolis Star Tribune story on the "effort by police, fire and medical personnel and government officials to deal with a crisis in the treatment of people who suffer from mental illness....The situation is exacerbated by the fact that broadly defined estimates place the number of mentally ill adults in the metro area in the hundreds of thousands, placing a strain at levels of the system from emergency rooms to officers on the street."  
  

New court helping mothers get clean and sober (Alaska)
Anchorage Daily News story on "the newest of Anchorage's specialty courts...... Family Care Court. It serves mothers whose drug or alcohol problems are so severe that the state has stepped in to protect their children, often by taking them away."  
  

Hidden epidemic: Substance abuse's toll on seniors
Seattle Times story on the "hidden health epidemic" - "Alcohol abuse and prescription-drug misuse are challenging millions of older Americans and likely to get worse as baby boomers age. The problem's current toll — social, economic and medical — and the implications for the future are prompting a push for education, screening and early treatment."