Wednesday, July 02, 2003
How Not to Fix Medicare New York Times opinion/editorial piece by Jacob S. Hacker, assistant professor of political science at Yale University and a fellow at the New America Foundation, is author of
The Divided Welfare State: The Battle Over Public and Private Social Benefits in the United States - "If this warning seems apocalyptic, that's only because most Americans are under the impression that the measures on the table are centrist compromises that would protect everyone's interests. In reality, neither the Senate nor the House legislation would achieve this. And while the Senate bill is indeed an attempt at compromise, albeit a deeply flawed one, the House bill is a radical measure directly at odds with Medicare's longstanding aims. It threatens to cripple the program for generations to come. Bluntly put, the House legislation is a ruse. The bill delivers a prescription drug benefit, but this benefit is simply the attractive window dressing for the legislation's ultimate aim: fundamentally revamping Medicare to create a competitive system based on private health plans..." [Viewing
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Suit pushes for better care of mentally ill (New York) Albany Times-Union story - "State officials have discriminated against mentally ill people for decades by warehousing them in substandard adult homes, a lawsuit charged Tuesday. The suit -- filed by advocates for thousands of mentally ill residents -- seeks sweeping improvements in their care. It argues that the residents belong in apartments in normal neighborhoods, as mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act, previous court decisions and the state's own policies." The suit - brought by Disability Advocates, an Albany-based nonprofit legal services organization, and a number of other orgganizations (the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, MFY Legal Services, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest and the Urban Justice Center) - names Gov. George Pataki and the heads of various state health departments as defendants.
HHS launches new efforts to create paperless health care system July 1 HHS press release - "HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced two new steps in building a national electronic health care system that will allow patients and their doctors to access their complete medical records anytime and anywhere they are needed, leading to reduced medical errors, improved patient care, and reduced health care costs. First, the Secretary announced that the Department has signed an agreement with the College of American Pathologists (CAP) to license the College's standardized medical vocabulary system and make it available without charge throughout the U.S. This action opens the door to establishing a common medical language as a key element in building a unified electronic medical records system in the U.S. Secondly, the Secretary announced that HHS has commissioned the Institute of Medicine to design a standardized model of an electronic health record. The health care standards development organization known as HL7 has been asked to evaluate the model once it has been designed. HHS will share the standardized model record at no cost with all components of the U.S. health care system. The Department expects to have a model record ready in 2004."
Corrective action: Reform work just beginning (Montana) Montana Forum story on the the prison inmate at the heart of a court ruling "that changed the way mentally ill inmates are treated" in the state after the State Supreme Court ruled that his treatment constituted cruel and unusual punishment - "Lawyers on both sides have been developing plans for treatment of the mentally ill at Montana State Prison. The proposals were due to be in Judge Neills hands Monday..."
New fiscal year brings tough choices for counties (Pennsylvania) Pocono Record story - "County officials across Pennsylvania face tough decisions to suspend social service programs and, in many cases, lay off employees with the start of the new state fiscal year. The new state budget for fiscal 2003-04 contains major spending cuts for a host of social service programs run by counties. The programs taking the biggest hit provide drug and alcohol abuse treatment, mental health and mental retardation services, rape crisis services, local mass transit operations, local libraries and other social services under the umbrella of the Human Services Development Program. And as a new fiscal year began Tuesday, legislative leaders said there are no agreements in sight yet on restoring the cuts made in the early-bird budget passed last March. ..." See also the Philadelphia Inquirer story,
Pennsylvania budget cuts already running deep.
New group home was a team project (Massachusetts) Ipswich Chronicle story on the opening of a new group home, attended by "... town officials, mental health activists, board members and employees of the Housing Authority, environmentalists and others who collaborated to make the group home a reality."
Western counties launch mental health reform (North Carolina) Citizen-Times story - " Tuesday morning marked the beginning of a new era for Smoky Mountain Center for Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services. When the lights came on, the center was changed from an area program to a local management entity. ... The center is in the first phase of mental health reform, which was mandated by the N.C. General Assembly in November 2001 and will privatize services across the state in the next year."
