Tuesday, December 17, 2002
Higher Out-of-Pocket Costs Cause Massive Non-Compliance in the Use of Prescription Drugs, and This Is Likely to Grow A
Health Care News story in
Adobe Acrobat format - "A new Harris Interactive survey shows that as a direct result of the high out-of-pocket cost of drugs, many millions of people do not ask doctors for the prescriptions they need, do not fill the prescriptions they are given, use lower doses of drugs than those prescribed and take their drugs less often than they should. The higher peoples out-of-pocket cost for drugs, the more likely they are to be non-compliant. Furthermore, non-compliance is much worse among people in only fair or poor health the people who need the drugs the most than among those in good health."
Shift in treatment funds? (Virginia) Richmond Times Dispatch story - "Gov. Mark R. Warner wants to transfer about $22 million in services and staff from state mental hospitals to treat mentally disabled people in communities. Sources said hundreds of mentally ill people would be treated in programs run by localities and financed by the state out of savings from closing wards in Virginia's mental institutions. The governor will announce the plan today."
State mental health centers sued (Nebraska) Omaha World Herald story - "More than a dozen women have sued the leaders of Nebraska's three mental-health regional centers, alleging that they weren't protected from sexual assaults and weren't helped in dealing with the resulting trauma. The civil-rights action, filed Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court, is an outgrowth of several claims by former patients of the Lincoln Regional Center stating that an employee sexually assaulted them last year."
Mental health fixes won't be sweeping, expert says
Cleveland Plain Dealer story on the recommendations likely to be made by President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, which is chaired by Michael Hogan, director of the Ohio Department of Mental Health.
Aid for in-home care may end (Michigan) Detroit Free Press story on proposed guideline changes which would eliminate in-home care as a Medicaid-funded service, and leave the state no longer required to pay for supervision, help with medication and meal preparation have been funded for people with disabilities who live in their own homes.
Lawsuit Over Adult Home (New York) New York Times story - "The New York attorney general ... sued the former operators of one of the state's largest and most troubled adult homes for the mentally ill yesterday, seeking $12 million in damages to compensate hundreds of residents who had been subjected to what state lawyers described as years of scandalous care and deplorable conditions." [Viewing
New York Times resources requires registration, which is free].
Michigan Plan to Cut Drug Costs Is Upheld New York Times story - "Michigan acted legally when it attempted to cut costs by limiting the drugs doctors can prescribe to low-income patients, the state appeals court said in a decision released Monday. The unanimous decision was a victory for the Michigan Department of Community Health. It also sent a clear signal to other states, who have been waiting to see if courts would approve Michigan's unique approach." [Viewing
New York Times resources requires registration, which is free]. See also the
story at ABC News. Mental health advocates and pharmaceutical companies had together brought a lawsuit that led to a preliminary injunction halting the program earlier this year. Yesterday's action by the state appeals court lifted that injunction, as "drug companies and mental health advocates failed to show their case was likely to succeed."
