Monday, March 15, 2004

Doctors wary of Medicaid drug list (New York)
Albany Times-Union story - "With prescription drug costs driving Medicaid costs upward, this may be the year that Gov. George Pataki and state legislators, after several years of haggling, come to an agreement to create a list of 'preferred drugs' for Medicaid recipients. A panel of experts would create a list of medicines that are effective, but not too costly. The hope is that drugmakers will lower their prices to get their meds included on the Medicaid list. Most of New York's elected officials agree on those goals, but a political fight is looming over their differences. Up in the air is how difficult it will be for doctors to obtain "prior authorization" before they can prescribe an unlisted drug. And whether for some conditions like mental illness, for which it's argued that individual medicines matter, should be exempted from the list entirely..."  
  

Child psychiatrists in demand across U.S.
Story in the Observer-Reporter (Pennsylvania) - "A national shortage of child psychiatrists is forcing parents and children to wait up to two months for appointments and mental health clinics and hospitals to scurry to find qualified help. Experts say the problem has developed because parents are more accepting of mental-health diagnoses for children and because not many medical students are exposed to child psychiatry as a specialty..."  
  

Mental health care reform is spiraling out of control (North Carolina)
Op/ed piece in the Star News by Si Cantwell - "North Carolina's mental health reform is beginning to look like a runaway train: unstoppable, out of control and capable of great harm. That's the opinion I came away with Friday after attending a Brunswick County community forum on mental health care organized by the Brunswick Counseling Center, part of the statewide Baptist Hospital Care Net..."  
  

Conference focuses on mental health resources (Montana)
Story in the Billings Gazette on the conference, “Montana Mental Health – A County Safety Net.” The story notes that conference organizers "hope to draw legislators and other elected officials, law enforcement and members of the public to a discussion on mental health resources. The meetings will take place March 22-24 at the Colonial Inn in Helena."  
  

New mental health hospital to open in Detroit (Michigan)
Story at mLive.com - "A new mental health hospital to serve Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties is expected to help stem a decline in hospital beds for the mentally ill in southeast Michigan. The former Saratoga Hospital is being refurbished into the Circle of Life Health Care Center, a private 90-bed facility that would serve mentally ill adults and children, The Detroit News reported Sunday. The center could open as soon as August. The hospital would help fill the void left by the closure of the Northville Psychiatric Hospital in May. Hospital beds for the mentally ill in the region have declined 45 percent over the last decade, from 1,965 in 1994 to 1,088 last year..."