Hogg Foundation for Mental Health News and Grants
Hogg Foundation for Mental Health
January, 2011
TEXAS NEWS
Texas House bill would create state-run health insurance exchange
Dallas Morning News
January 13, 2011
AUSTIN - A key House GOP health policy writer has filed legislation to create a state-run health insurance exchange in Texas. A bill by Rep. John Zerwas, R-Katy, would create a Texas Health Insurance Connector, or simplified insurance market.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/011411dntexlegehealthcare.ae073bf8.html
Texas budget proposals call for thousands of job cuts
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
January 13, 2011
AUSTIN -- Budget recommendations being prepared for Texas lawmakers are expected to call for eliminating at least 8,000 state jobs, officials said Thursday.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/01/13/2768064/texas-budget-proposals-call-for.html#ixzz1B1O6XfCC
Texas Youth Commission officials get pay raises; Disclosure stirs anger at Capitol as state workers face cuts in salaries and jobs
Austin American-Statesman
January 13, 2011
Despite two rounds of budget cuts and a looming $27 billion state revenue shortfall, top officials at the Texas Youth Commission received pay raises ranging from 3.5 to 10 percent over the past four months, according to records the American-Statesman obtained Thursday.
http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/texas-youth-commission-officials-get-pay-raises-1184309.html
Bad Diets, Smoking Cause East Texans to Die Young
Texas Tribune
January 14, 2011
... In a recent East Texas community survey, residents overwhelmingly reported struggling to find dentists who accept Medicaid, outpatient mental health services or transportation to appointments.
http://www.texastribune.org/texas-health-resources/health-reform-and-texas/bad-diets-smoking-cause-east-texans-to-die-young/
Homelessness on the rise; Advocacy group says numbers growing locally as well as nationally
San Antonio Express-News
January 13, 2011
... In San Antonio, the most recent survey found 3,580 people lived in shelters or on the streets in 2010, compared with 3,303 in 2009.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Homeless-Population-Numbers-Up-953833.php#ixzz1B1lUEyJC
Central Health agrees to pursue HMO to cover Medicaid patients
Austin American-Statesman
January 13, 2011
Central Health officials agreed Thursday to pursue the creation of a health maintenance organization, or HMO, saying the investment would enable them to leverage state dollars and better coordinate the care of their low-income patients.
http://www.statesman.com/news/local/central-health-agrees-to-pursue-hmo-to-cover-1184466.html
Tax increase: Hospital district move more likely
El Paso Times
January 14, 2011
Brace yourselves. The possibility of an increrase in taxes by the El Paso County Hospital District seems to have graduated from possibility to probability - and is heading for certainty.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/opinion/ci_17088729
Clear Lake Regional Medical Center, Mainland Medical Center to merge
Houston Chronicle
January 13, 2011
Mainland Medical Center and Clear Lake Regional Medical Center have announced plans to merge, a move that would create one of the largest medical facilities in the Houston area.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/7380037.html
UT Southwestern To Accelerate Its Early Leadership In Using Electronic Health Records To Improve Patient Care
Medical News Today
January 14, 2011
As the first major medical center in North Texas to implement electronic medical records in all its clinical practice groups, UT Southwestern Medical Center today applauded the government's initiative to get hospitals and health care providers across the nation to embrace new health care technology.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/213663.php
'Fight club' video disallowed at trial
Houston Chronicle
January 13, 2011
AUSTIN (AP) - The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has declined to allow "fight club" cell phone video of Corpus Christi State School mentally challenged residents at the trial of the former worker who is accused of shooting it.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/7379844.html
Mental evaluation of accused Fort Hood shooter expected next week
Austin American-Statesman
January 13, 2011
FORT HOOD - A panel of health professionals will submit its report next week on whether an Army psychiatrist is competent to stand trial for the deadly shooting rampage at Fort Hood in 2009.
http://www.statesman.com/news/local/mental-evaluation-of-accused-fort-hood-shooter-expected-1184510.html
NATIONAL NEWS
Army's 'Spiritual Fitness' Test Angers Some Soldiers
National Public Radio
January 13, 2011
Multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken a toll on soldiers: Witness the rise in suicides and other stress-related disorders. A few years ago, the Army noticed that some soldiers fared better than others, and it wondered: Why? One reason, says Brig. Gen. Rhonda Cornum, is that people who are inclined toward spirituality seem to be more resilient.
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/13/132904866/armys-spiritual-fitness-test-angers-some-soldiers
Our Broken Mental-Health System
Newsweek
January 14, 2011
... across America there are thousands of parents of older adolescents and young adults who are terrified that their child's strange behavior, paranoid rants, drinking, drug abuse, conspiracy fantasies, and other red flags of mental illness will lead to violence-possibly against a public figure like Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, possibly against a family member. That most of these parents have no idea what to do is frightening enough. It's a national scandal that, even if they succeed in getting their child mental-health care before tragedy strikes, the system is set up to thwart them at every turn.
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/01/14/our-broken-mental-health-system.html
College's Policy on Troubled Students Raises Questions
New York Times
January 13, 2011
TUCSON - Many people had a glimpse of the deep delusions and festering anger of Jared L. Loughner, but none seemed in a better position to connect the dots than officials at Pima Community College. After the release of detailed reports the college kept of Mr. Loughner's bizarre outbursts and violent Internet fantasies, the focus has turned to whether it did all it could to prevent his apparent descent into explosive violence.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/us/14college.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=mental&st=nyt
NJ to end behavioral home therapy for kids
San Antonio Express-News
January 14, 2011
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Thousands of children with behavioral problems will no longer receive therapy at home beginning in March. The state Department of Children and Families has decided to limit the number of kids receiving in-home intensive community treatment. About 3,000 will lose the service.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/NJ-to-end-behavioral-home-therapy-for-kids-956453.php#ixzz1B1on2xQl
Long Island DA wants inmate suicides review
San Antonio Express-News
January 14, 2011
MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) - The district attorney wants a review of conditions at Long Island's Nassau County Jail after four inmate suicides in a year. Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice tells Newsday that a review should be done by correction and mental health experts.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Long-Island-DA-wants-inmate-suicides-review-956347.php#ixzz1B1rk9Yzm
North Georgia psychiatric hospital to close
San Antonio Express-News
January 13, 2011
ROME, Ga. (AP) - A state-run psychiatric hospital in north Georgia will close this summer. ... The closure is part of a legal settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice. The agreement also includes more community-based services for about 9,000 people with mental illness.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/North-Georgia-psychiatric-hospital-to-close-955485.php#ixzz1B1sGvPML
Fed court allows forced meds for suspect
San Antonio Express-News
January 13, 2011
ATLANTA (AP) - An attorney for a paranoid schizophrenic plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a federal appeals panel's decision to allow prison doctors to forcibly medicate his client so he can stand trial on bank robbery charges. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling released Thursday was one of very few decisions on the issue that have been handed down since the Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that forcible medication should be used only rarely, and only if less intrusive alternatives cannot achieve the same results.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Fed-court-allows-forced-meds-for-suspect-954839.php#ixzz1B1sfM8Rg
HEALTHCARE REFORM
Surveys show significant proportions of hospitals and doctors already plan to adopt electronic health records and qualify for federal incentive payments
U.S. Department of health and Human Services
January 13, 2011
Four-fifths of the nation's hospitals, and 41 percent of office-based physicians, currently intend to take advantage of federal incentive payments for adoption and meaningful use of certified electronic health records technology, according to survey data released today by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/01/20110113a.html
Ohio gov. to create office to modernize Medicaid
San Antonio Express-News
January 13, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Gov. John Kasich on Thursday unveiled his vision for reinventing the cash-strapped state's health care delivery system, particularly Medicaid, and cutting its costs.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Ohio-gov-to-create-office-to-modernize-Medicaid-954584.php#ixzz1B1t1pfzl
Daniels wants cuts to higher ed, Medicaid services
San Antonio Express-News
January 13, 2011
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Gov. Mitch Daniels wants to cut higher education spending and eliminate some optional Medicaid services to help balance Indiana's budget without raising taxes, according to a spending plan he released Thursday.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Daniels-wants-cuts-to-higher-ed-Medicaid-services-954420.php#ixzz1B1tTtqkl
OPINIONS
Optimistic: What's up Gov. Perry's sleeve?
El Paso Times
January 14, 2011
What's up Gov. Rick Perry's sleeve; why is he ho-humming when so many in Texas fear lawmakers are about to make massive budget cuts? ... In El Paso, the county government is mandated to oversee general health. If the state cuts back, who pays for what's now the health-services poster child here, El Paso Mental Health Mental Retardation? We'd likely pay in the form of higher county taxes.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/opinion/ci_17088727?IADID=Search-www.elpasotimes.com-www.elpasotimes.com
Discussing the Arizona Tragedy on NPR
National Alliance on Mental Illness
January 12, 2011
The tragedy in Arizona raises many more questions than it answers. One key area under discussion is the role of unassessed and untreated psychiatric disorders in the lives of young adults, who are already undergoing multiple life stressors.
http://blog.nami.org/
Shootings should prod a searching of our souls
El Paso Times
January 14, 2011
... Should a responsible government provide health services to all, or just to federal elected officials, active-duty military and dependents, military retirees, senior citizens and the disabled? Should government improve and subsidize mental-health care?
http://www.elpasotimes.com/opinion/ci_17088712?IADID=Search-www.elpasotimes.com-www.elpasotimes.com
Shooting briefly draws attention to mentally ill
Arizona Republic
January 14, 2011
... Cuts to mental-health programs in the past legislative session left patients of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment system with only basic services. Over the past couple of years, mental-health funding to Maricopa County has been cut by nearly $60 million. Most of those who suffer from such cuts are a danger to no one but must endure an additional stigma each time a violent incident occurs.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2011/01/14/20110114Montini0114.html#ixzz1B1fuSBK4
Commentary: We must address mental illness more aggressively
Kansas City Star
January 14, 2011
... Increasingly, society leans toward protecting us from the relatively few among the mentally ill who take to violence, rather than taking on the issues entangled with doing more to aid the larger numbers of people suffering.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/01/14/106770/commentary-we-must-address-mental.html#ixzz1B1gMiBpF
We ignore the Jared Loughners among us
The Washington Post
January 13, 2011
Did our angry political culture help motivate Jared Lee Loughner on what authorities say was his mad shooting spree? Maybe, but a more troubling question for me is why nobody stopped this often incoherent, irrational young man on his long path to the rampage just outside Tucson. ... This was a young man who showed signs of mental illness, yet in our culture people couldn't or wouldn't stop him - even when they knew his behavior was bizarre.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/12/AR2011011204006.html
Cook Children's Healthcare System works to make North Texas the best place to be a kid
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
January 14, 2011
... After reviewing the data from more than 7,400 survey respondents, researchers identified seven areas that affect the children of North Texas most: abuse, access to care, asthma, dental health, mental health, obesity and safety. Mining the data for a specific county or city allows communities to begin to develop solutions to the health problems plaguing their children.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/01/13/2767806/cook-childrens-healthcare-system.html#ixzz1B1OpVHPv
Milwaukee County Executive Lee Holloway has offered a promising proposal for reforming the way the county provides mental health care
Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel
January 13, 2011
... Under his plan, Milwaukee County would create a series of small-scale mental health facilities jointly operated with private vendors, including possibly local hospitals.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/113500064.html
RESEARCH
Inverse Benefits Due to Drug Marketing Undermine Patient Safety and Public Health
ScienceDaily
January 13, 2011
Drugs that pharmaceutical companies market most aggressively to physicians and patients tend to offer less benefit and more harm to most patients -- a phenomenon described as the "inverse benefit law" in a paper from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110113213129.htm
Optimism Protects Teens From Depression, Health Risks
U.S. News & World Report
January 13, 2011
Parents are always telling kids they need to be optimistic, but there hasn't been much evidence that optimism really does them any good. ...But researchers in Australia say that optimism may help protect teenagers against depression. That news, reported in the journal Pediatrics, could matter to many teens, since 10 to 15 percent of adolescents have symptoms of depression at any given time.
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/brain-and-behavior/articles/2009/04/24/depressed-treating-depression-drugs-medication-treatments-antidepressants?s_cid=related-links:TOP
Suicide Risk Greater for People Living at Higher Elevations, Study Finds
ScienceDaily
January 14, 2011
Twenty years of mortality data from counties across the United States led to the striking discovery that living at higher altitudes may be a risk factor for suicide, according to a provocative study published online ahead of print in High Altitude Medicine & Biology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110113131436.htm
Schizophrenia patients have reduced exercise capacity
MedWire News
January 14, 2011
Patients with schizophrenia have reduced physical activity levels and functional exercise capacity compared with mentally health individuals, study results show.
http://www.medwire-news.md/47/90758/Psychiatry/Schizophrenia_patients_have_reduced_exercise_capacity.html
FEATURES & RESOURCES
The HHSC Quick Resource Guide
Texas Health and Human Services Commission Office of Border Affairs
January 2011
Quick resource guide to services offered to the public by health and human service agencies in Texas, including:
- Texas Health and Human Services Commission
- Texas Department of Family and Protective Services
- Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services
- Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services
- Texas Department of State Health Services
- Texas Workforce Commission
- Texas Education Agency
http://www.hhsc.state.tx.us/hhsc_projects/oba/colonias/QRG.pdf
2011 National Topical Webinar Series
Georgetown University National TA Center
January 2011
The National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health, at the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development, is again sponsoring this exciting and well-received monthly series of topical webinar calls. The calls cover important and emerging trends in the mental health field. Presentations from expert resource persons are followed by time for participants to post questions and enrich the conversation. Visit our website for registration information and the 2011 calendar of webinars.
http://gucchdtacenter.georgetown.edu/resources/2011calls.html
25th Annual Conference on Prevention of Child Abuse: Make Prevention Your Priority
Prevent Child Abuse Texas
January 10, 2011
A statewide conference designed to offer quality training and information on topics and model programs of interest to leaders in child abuse prevention: social workers, counselors, educators, child care and youth workers, law enforcement personnel, medical & legal professionals, foster parents, child welfare board volunteers, elected officials, and other interested child advocates.
http://www.preventchildabusetexas.org/nextconference.html
