NCMHPC Proudly Presents:

KeepMentalHealthinMind
anE-zineforMentalHealthPolicy&Practice

Through February, 2009

Vol. 1 #2

A joint publication of:

NCMHPC & AMHA-USA

www.TheNationalCoalition.org www.AmericanMentalHealth.com

If you agree with everything in this e-zine you have not read it closely enough
Articles are presented in chronological order. NCMHPC & AMHA-USA take no stand on any of the materials presented here. We are just alerting you to what is going on in the media. Knowledge is power.

Politics & Policy:

· 2/1/09 Obama’s health reforms would save only 1% of the amount promised, says Congressional Budget Office

· 2/4/09 How the Stimulus Bill Could Kill You

· 2/9/09 Ruin Your Health With the Obama Stimulus Plan

· 2/11/09A Health-Tech Monopoly Another surprise in the stimulus fine print

·2/16/09 The Future of Health Care

·2/16/09U.S. to Compare Medical Treatments

· 2/17/09 Stimulus Bill Permits Sale of Health Records

· 2/17/09 “The privacy protections congress passed are the first major step towards safeguarding our basic, fundamental rights to keep our health matters private..”

· 2/18/09 Guilty Thoughts on Socialized Medicine

· 2/18/09 Digitizing Medical Records May Help, but It's Complex

· 2/18/09 NEJM on Health Care and the stimulus bill

· 2/20/09 Doctor's Orders?

· 2/20/09 Humane Health Care Book Review

· 2/24/09A warning shot in the healthcare fight

· 2/24/09 Health Care Tops Fiscal Need List

· 2/26/09 Health Care Reform in Eight Easy Steps

· 2/26/09 Saving the economy by “reforming health care”: what does this mean?

· 2/26/09 Stopping the Destruction of American Health Care

· 2/27/09 Can US Achieve Meaningful Healthcare Reform Within For-Profit System?

Things are moving fast!
See UHCAN site for updates.

Practice

2/1/09As economic fears rise, families on verge of unraveling

2/5/09 Dieting? Put Your Money Where Your Fat Is

· 2/9/09 Suicides: Watching for a Recession Spike

· 2/14/09 How Not to Get Blindsided by Out-of-Network Fees

· 2/19/09 Children in the Mental Health Void

Archive:
January 2009 Vol 1 #1

Important Reading:

2/8/09 The Interdivisional Task Force on Managed Care and Health Care Policy has unanimously endorsed the White Paper and will announce this support to the Divisions (42 and 39), CAPP and the Practice Directorate. The Task Force is becoming far more active in addressing the failure of APA to speak for the erosion of income of psychologists and other mental health professionals under managed care, erosion of reimbursement that is completely at odds with the rest of health care reimbursement practice (psychologists make less than bachelor-level physical therapists, for example) who get regular COLAs raises under Medicare (versus continuing declines for MH professionals). Not sure how far we can take the paper, but it will at least be on the agenda of the two Divisions and will be sent to CAPP and PD by Interdivisional as well as by me.
Bill
William A. MacGillivray, PhD ABPP. President NCMHPC

Ivan Miller on Professional Reimbursement

Ken Pope has created a web page to help professionals to find volunteer opportunities that best fit the professional's interests, values, and available time.

Rumor Alert:

· Too often practitioners learn of coming changes only by chance. Anthem – CA Blue Cross may be planning, as of Jan 2010, to manage all out patient mental health services. The word is they will only authorize 12 sessions to any provider (in or out of network), after which, providers will have to submit treatment plans.

Notice:

Many of the links in this e-zine are to newspaper articles. These links often expire. If they have expired, you most likely will still find them at the internet archive. Copy the expired link and then click here and paste the expired link in the box next to the button that says Take Me Back. Then click the button and you will most likely find the article. If it is not there chances are you are out of luck.

Future Issues:

Contributions to future issues of this e-zine are invited and appreciated. Please send original contributions as well as links to information you feel is pertinent to amha-info@nwlink.com . We can not guarantee that any submission will be used.

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		NCMHPC
National Coalition of Mental Health Professionals and Consumers, Inc.

an educational foundation and advocacy organization serving mental health consumers and professionals