Friday, October 31, 2003

Mandated Treatment in the Community for People with Mental Disorders
Health Affairs article reprinted at Medscape that "explores the context within which coerced community treatment has arisen and seeks to break the impasse between advocates and opponents by placing mandated treatment within the larger conceptual framework of health care quality. The authors are all part of the Research Network on Mandated Community Treatment, a MacArthur Foundation funded project designed to evaluate programs in which mentally ill patients are instructed by the courts to get community-based treatment." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Managing Psychotropic Drug Costs: Will Formularies Work?
Health Affairs story reprinted at Medscape - " Spending for prescription drugs - once the fastest-growing component of health care spending in the United States - has taken second place to hospital costs but still continues to increase rapidly. In 2002, for example, prescription drug spending rose 13.2 percent over its 2001 level, down from a high of 18.4 percent in 1999. Within the broader category of prescription drugs, however, some of the fastest-growing drugs are psychotropic medications, especially new classes such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and atypical antipsychotics. Formularies, or lists of prescription drugs, are one of many tools that insurance companies and other payers use to control spending for prescription drugs..." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Group: Ban The Anti-Depressant Serzone
AP story at InteliHealth - "The anti-depressant Serzone, about to be pulled off the market in Canada and long gone in Europe, should be banned in the United States because of cases of deadly liver failure, a consumer advocacy group told the government Wednesday. It's impossible to predict which patient will develop liver failure, an unacceptable risk considering Serzone works no better than older anti-depressants that don't come with that side effect, Dr. Sidney Wolfe of Public Citizen told the Food and Drug Administration."  
  

Bill seeks to preserve families
Mental Health Weekly article reprinted at the NAMI web site - "Recent reports from the General Accounting Office (GAO) and the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health depicted bleak options for families seeking mental health services for a child. A bill introduced in Congress last week would use a relatively modest federal contribution to start building a family-friendly system of child services. Advocates immediately embraced the Keeping Families Together Act as offering hope to the thousands of parents who feel compelled to relinquish custody of their children in order to get them mental health care that is inaccessible in conventional systems..."  
  

State hospital will not be closed (Pennsylvania)
Times-Herald story - "Norristown State Hospital will not be closing. Contrary to rumors, patients in the so-called forensic unit, where dangerous mentally ill or mentally retarded patients who have had contact with the criminal justice system are housed, will not be released into residential group homes. That message, delivered to a group of hospital employees and neighbors, was delivered yesterday during a public meeting of the board of trustees. The controversy stems from a September 2002 decision by the Pennsylvania DPW's office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services to limit stays at mental institutions to two years. .."  
  

State mental health, alcohol boards look into merger (Alaska)
Fairbanks News-Miner story - " The state boards on mental health and alcohol abuse are considering whether to merge. The Alaska Mental Health Board and the Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse held an unprecedented joint meeting in Fairbanks Wednesday to begin discussing the issue. Some said combining the two panels as Gov. Frank Murkowski wants is inevitable and overdue. The state has already merged administrative divisions dealing with substance abuse and mental health."  
  

Mental health agency takes different view (North Carolina)
Story in the Free Press (Kinston) - " In an effort to maximize services for people with a mental illness, Eastpointe has changed its psychiatric business practices and adopted a corporate philosophy. The change came as a result of North Carolina House Bill 381, which required reforms at 41 mental health institutions statewide. The law - through the use of a local business plan - resulted in a mass consolidation of those institutions into 20 area programs. Duplin, Wayne, Lenoir and Sampson counties joined together to create Eastpointe in July. "  
  

Head Games: As mental health services get cut further, the number of people in need grows (California)
Metroactive feature story on Sonoma County's mental health system - "As the healthcare crisis tries to dodge the slings and arrows of recall elections and budget debacles, mental health has fallen to the bottom of most people's priority lists. ... But Sonoma County's mental healthcare is undergoing a crisis of its own. As a state system (which many feel wasn't meeting the mentally ill's needs before there ever was a budget crisis), it has already faced cuts and may see more next year. The problem is that the longer mental health needs go unmet, the more it costs the community as a whole...."