News: House Approves State Aid Package, Including $16 Billion In Federal Medicaid Assistance
Kaiser Health News reports, "By a vote of 247 to 161, the House approved a $26 billion funding bill for states, which includes $16 billion to continue enhanced federal Medicaid funds due to expire at the end of the year as well as $10 billion in education funding. The measure will now be sent to the President for his signature." States will have $16 billion to help with Medicaid payments in 2011. . .
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News: Senate Gives Final Passage To State Aid Bill, House Summoned For Tuesday Vote
Senators voted Thursday to give $26 billion in aid to states and schools, $16 billion of which will be directed to Medicaid programs around the nation as the House prepares to return during its recess to cast votes on the legislation. Read the round-up of stories originally published in Kaiser Health News . . .
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News: As economy takes toll, mental health budgets shrink
Writing in Stateline.org, staff writer Christine Vestal assesses how states have met mental health budgets and what this means for people needing psychiatric services in today's fiscal crisis. "The drop-off is translating into a reduction in the number of psychiatric hospital beds, as well as fewer services for mental health emegencies and longer waiting lists for housing," says Vestal. . .
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Consider This: Applauding the Berwick appointment
. . .it's about time
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News: New York and Calif. big losers
One of the consequences of the Senate's failure to pass an extension of unemployment insurance is the cost to Medicaid in each state. Of the $15 billion at stake, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, California stands to loose $1.9 billion and New York $2.2 billion. Every state will lose something, and the range is $22 million for Wyoming to the high in New York. To see the full table, click here.
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News: Threats to Medicaid in Senate vote
June 16 Update The Senate Finance Committee released details of modifications of a bill (HR 4213) the Senate failed to pass yesterday extending federal benefits to help states pay for Medicaid, to continue Medicare physician reimbursements through 2011, and to extend COBRA for people unemployed during the recession. The details of the changes can be downloaded here: Summary of Modifications and Additions
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News: Budget cuts could devastate services
Non-profit agencies and the 600,000 people with psychiatric disabilities for whom they provide services, are at risk in New York State where proposals to trim $775 million for health were announced by the governor's office. A coalition of service providers and advocates called attention to the likely, crippling consequences.
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News: Passing health reform energizes advocates
Historic, jubilant, transformative were among the adjectives enunciated in the on-going celebrations of Sunday's historic pass of health reform in America. Recalling his mother who battled insurance companies on her deathbed, Pres. Barack Obama said passing this law represents the "core principles that everybody should have security." . .
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News: Screening absent for Medicaid patients with psychiatric diagnosis

News: For-profit Chicago nursing home threat to mentally ill
Physical abuse, over-medication, inappropriate patient population, and neglectful care to 300 mentally ill patients led the federal government to halt Medicaid funding from a for-profit nursing home. The courts, and the Department of Health and Human Services agree that the residents of Somerset Place in Chicago have been ill served by the partially family-owned company. . .
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News: Early intervention for psychosis gaining attention
When compared to countries with national health care, the U.S. delays early intervention in first-episode psychotic disorders. Several articles in the November issue of Psychiatric Services discuss strategic differences in responses, as well as model programs for doing so.
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Did You Know: Medicaid spent $137 for a day of home health service compared to $1447 for one day in the hospital.
Read more from a report titled Olmstead. from the Bazelon Center for Mental Health...
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Did You Know: Medicaid accounts for 42 percent of state mental health revenues.
Read more about Medicaid and Medicare from National Health Policy Forum....
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News: Medicaid policies limit clinically indicated drugs
The irony of trying to save Medicaid money might well result in more expensive human, medical and social costs, conclude the authors of a study of Medicaid management of medication. Medicaid drug policies, it seems, constrain access to preferred psychiatric drugs and thereby increase the likelihood of emergency room use, hospitalization or homelessness, say the authors of a new study in the May issue of Psychiatric Services. The authors base their conclusions, that drug management is based "based primarily on...
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News: Pregnancy and depression
Pregnant women with diabetes have a greater likelihood of developing depression before and after they give birth than do pregnant women without diabetes, say the authors of a study appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The study was based on Medicaid data for more than 11,000 women delivering babies in New Jersey in a two-year period. The authors speculated that the hormonal disorders accompanying diabetes may play a role in depression, but they did not establish...
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News: Medicaid enrollments skyrocket
With the numbers of unemployed growing daily, and more people losing employer-based insurance, states are being hit with double-digit enrollment in Medicaid reports the New York Times. Last year, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that for every 1 percent increase in unemployment, the ranks of the uninsured grew by 1.1 percent. Of the 59 million people who receive Medicaid, about 8.3 million are disabled....
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News: Lilly settles
Eli Lilly and the Department of Justice reached a series of settlements resulting from illegal marketing, defrauding the government, and making false claims related to Zyprexa. The company will pay more than $1.4 billion (including a criminal fine of $515 million) for a scheme that broadly affected patient health, government spending and the credibility of federal regulatory agencies. A five-year corporate integrity agreement specifying reporting, written standards, and tracking of information, was part of the settlement....
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News: States in trouble
South Carolina announced cuts of at least 12 percent to its mental health budget. This will come as a result of closing programs, staff cuts, a freeze on hiring, and eliminaitng 75 in-patient beds. The projected $26 million reduction might increase by another $7.8 million. Advocates worry that the impact of reducing services will be transferred to emergency rooms, jails and homeless shelters. Elsewhere: A spike in anxiety, depression and suicide risks in Denver. In New York, reports the Poughkeepsie...
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Consider This: Local ballot boxes '08
. . . impact mental health
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News: Facing deficits, states cut health budgets
Numerous states have announced cuts to mental health programs, many of which are funded by Medicaid. Maine is asking for a $25 enrollment fee, Florida froze rates to nursing homes, and California reduced its reimbursement rate for a 15-minute physician visit to $21.60, reports the Christian Science Monitor. Earlier this week New York cut local assistance by six percent, a blow to funding which has been the "lifeblood for many individuals with psychiatric disabilities in the community," said the Mental...
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News: Court strikes down Kendra's Law in New Mexico
After the courts struck down an Albuquerque ordinance requiring forced medication for outpatient treatment, the mayor vowed to return this issue to the legislature. According to the Albuquerque Journal the state has cut back on funding for outpatient programs. According to Nancy Koenigsberg from the advocacy organization, Protection and Advocacy, The ordinance that was struck (down) acknowledged that for any kind of treatment to achieve its goal, it must be linked to a system of comprehensive care in which...
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Track Legislation: S. 2819
Economic Recovery in Health Care Act of 2008, introduced by Sen. John Rockefeller, April 2, 2008, "Prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services from finalizing, implementing, enforcing, or otherwise taking any action to give effect prior to April 1, 2009"
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News: Overuse of psychiatric nursing homes
The Hartford Courant reports an excessive number of psychiatric admissions to nursing homes will cost Conn. $6.5 million in Medicaid reimbursements....
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News: Reactions to Medicaid (HR 5613) moratorium vote
Action of a decisive House of Representatives, led by Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich), to hold off Medicaid cuts, has received considerable local support. President Bush has threatened to veto this bill (it must first move through the Senate), citing a savings of $13 billion over five years. The one-year moratorium is estimated to cost about $1.6 billion. An analysis of the economics, prepared by the Congressional Budget Office, is available in a pdf file. The vote had overwhelming support, and...
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News: Committee passes bill to delay Medicaid cuts
A House committee voted unanimously to delay changes to Medicaid that the Bush administration sought to impose. With broad support on the bill (H.R. 5613) introduced by Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich), ranking member Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tx) thought the House and Senate likely to sustain a presidential veto. Community mental health services are among those that will be delayed one year. The cost for all the Medicaid measures is estimated at $1.65 billion. To follow H.R. 5613 through the House...
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News: Dems revisit SCHIP
The Senate Finance Committee held hearings last week to assess the Bush administration’s decision to limit how states enroll children in the insurance program known as SCHIP. At issue is an August directive from the Secretary of Health and Human Services limiting state authority to set enrollment levels based on family income. A number of states hoped to expand the eligibility criteria but the Bush administration argued that would increase a reliance on government at the expense of private insurance....
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Track Legislation: H.R. 5613
Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) introduced the Protecting the Medicaid Safety Net Act on March 12, 2008: “To extend certain moratoria and impose additional moratoria on certain Medicaid regulations through April 1, 2009, and for other purposes.”
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News: Bill would halt Medicaid cuts
The House is considering a bill (H.R. 5613) to postpone decisions made by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that would drastically cut Medicaid services, giving lawmakers time to consider the implications. In hearings held yesterday, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) outlined the impact for community-based programs serving adults and children with psychiatric needs and called the administration's edicts an attack on “the nation’s safety net” and contrary to congressional intent. The bill has bi-partisan support from 57 co-sponsors....
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News: Barriers to meds for elderly
Two studies in the April issue of Psychiatric Services discuss barriers for the elderly taking psychiatric medicines in Canada and the United States. One article, an NIMH-funded study of co-pays in British Columbia between 1997 and 2005, found that copays delayed seniors from obtaining antidepressant medicines. Another study discussed the United States, and the implications of excluding the anti-anxiety benzodiazepines from Medicare Part D....
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News: Alasks settles Zyprexa case
Eli Lilly has agreed to a $15 million settlement with Alaska over the drug Zyprexa, used a drug to treat schizohprenia and bipolar disorder. The settlement ended a jury trial which began March 6 in Anchorage Superior Court, in which Alaska asked for $270 million for the drug used in its Medicaid program. Reuters reports that Conn. brought a similar law suit on March 11. The company has paid out more than $1.2 billion to settle 30,000 individual law suits....
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News: Iowa reviews Medicaid meds
The Iowa legislature is reviewing its Medicaid preferred drug list for psychiatric drugs as a budgetary measure estimated to trim $1.7 million from an overall medication budget of $234 million. Advocates expressed alarm should a one-size-fits-all policy, requiring prior authorization and generic substitutes, become the mandate where fine tuning is necessary....
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News: Fiscal woes confusing states
Threatened federal cuts and an economic downturn are stressing states already coping with mounting health related expenses. Yesterday New Jersey's governor announced intentions to expand insurance coverage, similar to Mass., but others are scaling back. And some, such as Ohio, remain resolute that the federal government was not entitled to deny them expansion of programs such as SCHIP at the same time plans are underway to close a mental health facility and save $9 million. In New York, according to...
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News: Zyprexa off-label
Off-label use of Zyprexa to treat disruptive children or address pain was aired in an Anchorage courtroom last week. A previously undisclosed 2003 memo from John C. Lechleiter, who will become CEO in April, said “to seize the opportunity to expand our work with Zyprexa” by using the door it had opened with pediatricians about another medication. The company says it was only trying to respond to physician interest. Alaska is suing Eli Lilly to recoup Medicaid costs for treating...
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News: Zyprexa trial in Alaska
Alaska is the first of nine states to sue Eli Lilly, manufacturer of Zyprexa, in a case that has wide ranging implications. Allegations that the company hid information about adverse side effects, such as weight gain leading to diabetes and cardiac complications, have already led to individual settlements of $1 billion. The Alaska case opens a different door. It is the first to have a jury trial, and asks the company to be liable for state Medicaid expenses for people...
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News: Elderly overdosed
The Hartford Courant reports that Connecticut is one of the top four states dispensing antipsychotic medication to elderly nursing home patients having no psychiatric histories....
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News: North Carolina questions services
North Carolina is learning that many private companies hired to deliver mental health community support services have dubious practices including preying on the poor, charging excessive fees, and at least $4.2 million in questionable Medicaid charges. The North Carolina News Observer reports that during one three-month period in 2006, “277 companies received taxpayer money to provide community support.” One of them, Dominion Healthcare Services, charged $61 an hour to take clients to charities for free clothes. Aggressive canvassing techniques in...
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News: Medicaid cuts to vulnerable
The Center on Budget Priorities released a revised report about the snowball effects of proposed budget cuts to Medicaid. The Bush policy aims to continue shifting federal responsibility to states, started during the Reagan administration with block grants, and the reduction in supports for vulnerable people. The current proposals for Medicaid, which the administration is trying to impose despite bipartisan opposition, will cut rehab programs for people with serious mental illness, and will weigh heavy on children with special needs,...
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News: Zyprexa settlement rumored
Pharma giant Eli Lilly, maker of Zyprexa, is said to be in conversation with the federal government to pay $1 billion to settle charges over its promotional activities, reports the New York Times. Zyprexa is the company's block buster drug for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and last year accounted for $4.8 billion in sales, about one-quarter of Lilly’s revenue. In the past two years, the company has been hit by more than 25,000 claims for failure to warn about serious...
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News: Dems renew fight over SCHIP, Medicaid
Congressional leaders blasted the Bush administration for unilateral decisions curbing eligibility for States Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and Medicaid. “Congress made it clear in law that Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program should be there for lower-income kids living without insurance,” said Sen. Max Backaus (D-Mont.) And Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) accused the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of stacking “the deck through administrative fiat” when it disagreed with Congress. A group of ranking Democrats has...
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News: More cuts for poor
The Bush administration bypassed Congress again to issue an administrative directive overruling state policies for Medicaid enrollment, a strategy similar to the one employed in August to limit the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). A spokesman defended the policy of capping enrollment at $41,000 saying it showed compassion for “the neediest.” Critics disagree noting the prerogative to set criteria for Medicaid enrollment has traditionally belonged to the states. Last week's announcement comes when a new report indicates services and...
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News: Medicaid screening for kids
Controversy in Mass. is flaring over policies to screen kids on Medicaid for psychiatric disorders. Brought on by a law suit resulting in an expansion of Medicaid services, some worry that pediatricians screening for anxiety disorders, ADHD, depression, and other disorders, leads to over use of medications for young children. The debate falls within a larger issue of medicating children, and then of medicating foster children. From Oregon to New York to Florida there are reports that foster children are...
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News: More cuts to kids
New federal rules undermine congressional intentions for kids in foster care, nearly all of whom received Medicaid, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The rules under the auspices of the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services promote fragmentation for Assertive Community Treatment (ACT), case management services, and initiate a fee schedule based on a 15-minute increment of service. Related site: Voices for America’s Children...
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News: Dosing elders with antipsychotic meds
Using off-label antipsychotic medication, known for their sedating qualities, to inappropriately quiet elderly patients is coming under fire by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services according to an article in The Wall Street Journal. Roughly one in five of the elderly patients who are being given these medications have no known psychotic condition. In an unrelated story, 54 nursing homes were cited for poor performance by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services....
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News: Open enrollment for Medicare Part D
With six weeks of an open enrollment period to make changes in Medicare Part D coverage beginning Nov. 15, the Kaiser Family Foundation examined 1824 stand alone plans and estimates that premiums are likely to increase an average of 17 percent (for those staying in the same plan), with the top three plans averaging 27 percent. Seniors, and those who advise them, might take note of the October issue of Psychiatric Services which says restrictions in some drug plans under...
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News: Barriers hurt the vulnerable
The former Commissioner of Public Health in Massachusetts, Christine Ferguson, explains in a recent article in Health Affairs how barriers prevent vulnerable people from getting needed care. When it comes to getting mental health services, she says: Mental health services stand out as a major need among poor and disabled children, and yet in many parts of the country there is a grave lack of pediatric mental health providers and services. The interaction between the health and education systems is...
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News: Interview with Ron Mandersheid
Behavioral Healthcare, June 2007 "It is a major responsibility of any society to care for its disabled citizens, and the cost of that responsibility should be distributed as broadly as possible," said Dr. Ronald Mandersheid, former government official credited with numerous efforts to reform and improve health care....
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News: Saving Medicaid dollars
Schizophrenia Bulletin Advance Access, June 19, 2007 Medicaid could save big bucks by improving behavioral and psychosocial interventions for people with schizophrenia who end up hospitalized because of medication gaps leading to relapse. Basing projections on 2001-2003 California Medicaid data, the authors estimate savings at $106 million....
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News: Funding woes jeopardize people needing services
Bangor Daily News, May 9, 2007 Maine’s intention to cut $100 million from a Medicaid budget of $375 million has been met by protests from family advocates and law enforcement officers. Sheriff Glen Ross said that nearly half of the 193 inmates in the Penobscot County jail are taking psychiatric drugs. "We need the state to do their part to support the mental health service providers," he told the Bangor Daily News. Ironically, Maine is home to a “pioneering initiative”...
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Links: Government Resources
Information about public resources, medication, legislation, or policy.
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Links: Issues / Advocacy
Action oriented non-profit groups with a national base promoting recovery, equity and social justice.
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Links: Find Help
New visitors will find useful resources for narrowing a search or for general information. Updated 11.02.07.
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News: New York City's Brad H. Settlement
by Jennifer J. Parish
As a result of class action lawsuit challenging the New York City for its failure to provide discharge planning for people with mental illness leaving jail, the Court mandated monitoring to track compliance. Jennifer Parish,one of the monitors of the case known as Brad H., testified the the "City is out of compliance with cetain basic provisions."
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