Several years ago, I signed up with the federal Office of Civil Rights online Privacy listserv so I would get notifications about HIPAA. I have been delighted with that subscription over the years. If you are an organization that provides healthcare services, you too should subscribe. Today I received a new sort of notice from [...]
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 is American Psychological Association’s Mental Health Month Blog Party. This post is dedicated to Mental Health and Mental Health Awareness. This past weekend, we rode 104 miles in the BikeMS Citrus Tour 2011. One of the fun parts of the weekend was getting to spend a few hours with our friend [...]
Just one year ago, after passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), The National Council highlighted the expansion of Medicaid that would occur as a result of the ACA. To meet the law’s requirements to provide insurance coverage to the working poor who are generally not insured through their employment, do not have access to insurance groups, and [...]
On February 24, 2011 I received an email letter from Linda Rosenberg, National Council President and CEO. The letter was entitled Trauma-informed Care: A Call to Arms. I was delighted to read it. In my previous life, when I worked as a psychologist, I practice Feminist Therapy. Somehow, my practice had developed into one in which I [...]
In January 2011, the American Psychological Association (APA) reported that nearly 90 percent of Americans have never heard about mental health parity or of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. In a survey conducted for the APA in December 2010 by Harris Interactive, 89% of those surveyed said they had not heard about [...]
One of the many provisions included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (health care reform law) was the creation of pilot programs to integrate all health care services into a Health Home. The development of the ‘medical home‘ concept will be most important among those with complicated health concerns and in vulnerable populations. [...]
On Monday the National Council announced that they have won a competitive grant to provide training and technical assistance to move forward the process of integrating primary and behavioral health care services. They will provide support services and assistance to organizations that have received grants to develop integrated care within their organizations, as well as to other organizations seeking [...]
An organization called the Coalition for Parity, Inc. comprised of managed behavioral health organizations (MBHOs) has filed suit to halt the implementation of the Paul Wellstone and Pete Dominici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. This group has as some of its members Value Options, Magellan Health Services Inc., and Beacon Health Strategies Inc. As reported [...]
Every two years around this time I am busy completing my Continuing Education Units (CEUs) so I can renew my license as a psychologist. I have done this every biennium since 1980, even though I retired from practice 17 years ago. In Florida, the license is both a practice and title act…to represent myself to the [...]
On March 21, 2010, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Subsequently, they passed the Reconciliation Act (H.R. 4872) making changes in the original bill. After some maneuvering, all the necessary legislation was passed by both houses of congress and on Tuesday, March 30, 2010, President Obama signed the Healthcare [...]
On Sunday night our book club met to discuss Richard Dawkins’ Greatest Show on Earth. While I had a bit of difficulty with his style of writing, the data Dawkins presents in explication and support of evolution is exhaustive. Even with such overwhelming evidence, he reports that a full 44% of Americans surveyed in 2008 do not believe that [...]
The September 29, 2009 edition of NJAMHA Newswire reports on a trend appearing strongly in New Jersey and in many other states: attempts to provide primary care treatment at the behavioral health setting or alternatively, to integrate behavioral health treatment into the primary care setting. In fact, the National Council, the major membership organization of community behavioral health care providers, has [...]
I was all set to write an article on various health disorders and their cost. Then I got frustrated. You see, I started reading the original articles upon which the news/opinion articles I was using as reference were based. I found very rapidly that the figures being used in the articles were comparing different things…some [...]
This is my second day back in the office after vacation. Yesterday and this morning were filled with catching up. That will take most of the rest of the week to complete. I decided to share an experience and some reflections before I get too removed from them. While on vacation, my back went out. [...]
This week’s entry is a guest article by Dr. Vince Bellwoar, a psychologist user of our software whose practice is located in Pennsylvania. Vince posted a question on our SOS user group about how other users measure quality of care. This spurred significant discussion on that group. I am hopeful that it will also stir up [...]
A couple of weeks ago, I read with interest a discussion on a Psychology listserv about telephone and other remote consultations. Florida psychologists tend to be pretty conservative about telehealth and Internet psychotherapy; after all, it is difficult to apply the same standards to remote interventions as to face-to-face contacts when psychotherapy is the product. [...]
