Mental Health news and information

A lawyer fired by the state Human Services Department says she was let go because of her criticism of an audit of government-funded mental healthcare, according to a lawsuit against the state agency.
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Getting patients more involved in taking responsibility for their health is the current quandary for providers. In most healthcare reform scenarios, patient engagement is seen as the key to success. How to achieve it seems mysterious, and most believe that the “unknown” can be solved by...
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About half the people who now buy their own health insurance—and potentially would face higher premiums next year under reform—would qualify for federal tax credits to offset rate shock.
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The federal government has indicated there are problems with the system Washington state uses to deliver mental health services, and officials say hundreds of millions of dollars could be at risk unless changes are made.
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Average psychiatric inpatient hospital admissions rose more than 8% in 2011, according to an annual survey by the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems, which said the need for inpatient behavioral health services continues to grow.
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The July 8 editorial “Ethics of medical enhancement” ignores the possibility that people with mental illness who take psychotropic medications may be somewhat dysfunctional and...
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Studies of healthcare systems in the U.S. and abroad show providers have achieved financial and clinical success with implementing telehealth services, according to a report by the healthcare research arm of Computer Sciences Corp.
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Iowa Department of Human Services officials issued an alert Wednesday to former patients at the Mental Health Institute in Independence and hundreds of state employees there and at other state facilities concerning a possible breach of their confidential information.
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The Kaiser Foundation Health Plan was fined $4 million by the state of California for failing to correct violations of mental health laws.
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Developers of Mood Rhythm, a mobile application to help patients with bipolar disorder, won the $100,000 top prize in the Heritage Open mHealth Challenge for software developers.
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