Articles & Publications (Mental Health) « Mental Health

           Articles and Publications About Mental Health

Articles About Mental Health

• Connecticut Makes Medicaid Money Available for Community-Based Mental Health Services (Media dis&dat – 4/1/09)
  Governor M. Jodi Rell announced that Medicaid funding will become available to support community-based services to help people with serious mental illness avoid long stays in Connecticut nursing homes.
• Efforts to help troubled White House retiree James fell short (Washington Post – 1/31/12)
  An article about Theodoric James, the former White House staffer who died in squalor this summer after repeatedly refusing help from APS. Also see Inspector General's report: Report of Special Evaluation: Sufficiency of District Agency Services Provided to a District Resident
  Patti's Comment:  Maybe Mitt should have been worried about a safety net that allows things like this to happen.
• Implications of Health Reform for Mental Health Care (Psychiatric Services – 5/10)
  Provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Obama on March 23 will benefit people who have mental and substance use disorders and their families, improve care in the public mental health system, and address the mental health workforce crisis.
• Mental Health Parity and Health Reform (Health Reform Watch – 2/1/10)
  The Interim Final Rules on mental health parity were issued last Friday by the various agencies responsible for the administration of the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA). The rules provide interim permanent answers to some of the interpretive questions raised by the MHPAEA. I’ll provide a couple of early reactions to the rules, and briefly describe why the parity rules in no way lessen the need for broader reform for the benefit of people with serious mental illness.
• Mental Health Parity Rules Eased (Wolters Kluwer – 7/5/10)
  Mental health parity rules implementing the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAE) apply to qualified health plans in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in same manner as they apply now group health plans, and on July 1 the Employee Benefit Security Administration made it a little bit easier to apply those parity rules.
• New Hope for Illinois' Mentally Ill Nursing Home Residents (Chicago Breaking News – 3/15/10)
  Thousands of psychiatric patients are likely to move out of nursing homes and into community-based settings in the next five years under a landmark legal agreement designed to reshape Illinois' troubled long-term care system.
• Ohio Supreme Court Bars Death Penalty for Mentally Retarded Man (ABA Journal – April 10, 2008)
  The Ohio Supreme Court has struck down a death sentence for a convicted double murderer because of his mental retardation, despite evidence that he could play video games, pay bills and drive a car.
• Self-Determination Q&A 2010 (Community Mental Health Oakland County – 7-6-10)
  What makes self determination different from person-centered planning? What are some of the concerns about self determination? Click above for answers to these and more questions.
• Supportive Housing: The Most Effective and Integrated Housing for People with Mental Disabilities (Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law)
  A growing body of evidence confirms that supportive housing works for people with mental disabilities, including those with the most severe impairments.
• Take Control of Your Discharge Planning (Michigan Protection & Advocacy Service)
  Discharge planning should begin as soon as you are admitted to a facility. If you are being hospitalized for psychiatric reasons, your Community Mental Health (CMH) agency should be involved. Ideally, the CMH worker should attend planning meetings at the facility and should be communicating with you and others to find out what you want and need upon leaving the facility.
• Two Moms Uncover Plot to Deny Mental Health Services to Children (Examiner – 1/31/10)
  The California Department of Education investigated and found multiple violations where children who needed mental health help were systematically denied the services they were entitled to.

Publications About Mental Health

• Inpatient Mental Health Care with Medicare
  If you are in the Medicare Plan and have Medicare Part A, Medicare helps pay for mental health services given in a hospital that require you to be admitted as an inpatient.
• Kaiser Foundation Reports Aimed at Informing Debate on Health Care Reform
  Three new reports and a video examine the range of health care needs and costs that people face today and the scope of coverage that may be available to them under health reform. One of the reports, Individuals With Special Needs and Health Reform: Adequacy of Health Insurance Coverage, is particularly relevant to people with serious mental illnesses. This and other reports can be accessed at the link above.
• Mental Health & Addiction Services for Children, Youth & Adults with Developmental Disability
  Planning guidelines from British Columbia.
• Mental Health Research Findings (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)
  This publication reports that one in four adults in the United States suffers from a mental disorder in a given year, with about 6 percent suffering from a serious mental illness. These problems typically take a toll on overall health.
• Obtaining Child Mental Health Services Through Medicaid: The Experience of Two Parents in Two States (Bazelon.org)
  With the significant adances in mental health services for children over the past decade, an array of effective, evidence-based interventions can now be provided to children in the community, which means that many children now have the opportunity to remain with their families and peers.