Recent posts
Ruling ACA Unconstitutional Could Have Devastating Effects on Patients, American Psychiatric Association Warns
American Psychiatric Association Mon Dec 17, 2018 APA is calling for vigorous appeal of Friday’s decision by a Texas court that the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unconstitutional. “This ruling has an unconscionable result,” APA President Altha Stewart, M.D., said in a press statement. “Should this ruling stand, millions of our patients will lose their health... read more
American Psychiatric Association Tues Nov 20, 2018 Mental health advocates must work to ensure that suicide is front and center of conversations about gun violence, Jeffrey Swanson, Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry at Duke University, wrote in a commentary in Psychiatric Services. Swanson is an expert in the epidemiology of gun... read more
American Psychiatric Association Speaks Out Against Trump Administration's Efforts to Undercut Women's Preventative Care
APA Psychiatric News Fri Nov 9, 2018 (Image: iStock/crankyT) APA joined four other medical specialty organizations on Thursday to urge the Trump administration to reverse actions taken this week that will limit women’s access to contraception. The organizations spoke out just one day after the Trump administration issued a pair of... read more
Why You Shouldn't Wait to Sign Up for Medicare Part B
The New York Times By Paula Span Oct 26, 2018 Twenty years ago, George Zeppenfeldt-Cestero left his job as a hospital administrator in New York to open a one-person health care consulting firm. Since he was losing his employee medical coverage, he shopped around and bought a private health insurance... read more
The New York Times By Christina Caron Nov 5, 2018 Parents should not spank their children, the American Academy of Pediatrics said on Monday in its most strongly worded policy statement warning against the harmful effects of corporal punishment in the home. The group, which represents about 67,000 doctors,... read more
Los Angeles Times By Scott Martelle Nov 1, 2018 About two-thirds of gun deaths in the U.S. each year are suicides, traumatic and desperate acts that often lie at the nexus of mental illness and ready access to a firearm. Yet a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine finds... read more
The San Diego Union-Tribune By Gary Warth October 4, 2018 It could be a bit easier for judges in San Diego County to order people with mental issues into conservatorship next year under a new pilot program created by a recently signed bill. Whether it will be implemented, however,... read more
Construction of Suicide Net Begins on Golden Gate Bridge
Pyschiatric News By Linda M. Richmond Sept 13, 2018 Construction of a suicide-deterrent net is under way at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. It is hoped to end the bridge’s standing as one of the world’s most popular suicide sites. Seventy-nine years after the first call to action to erect a barrier... read more
APA Joins Health Organizations in Lawsuit Against Expansion of Short-Term Health Plans
American Psychiatric Association Sept 14, 2018 Joining a coalition of seven mental health and health advocacy groups, APA filed suit today in federal court to invalidate a Trump administration rule on short-term, limited duration health plans. The coalition argued in its complaint that the final rule, issued last month by three federal agencies, violates the plain-English... read more
California is sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars for mental health programs. Let's put it to use.
Los Angeles Times By The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board September 10, 2018 Like much of the rest of the nation, California went only halfway toward keeping its promise to improve mental health care. It closed psychiatric hospitals, some of which were really just costly warehouses for the sick... read more