Articles, Leading Stories
New hospital promotes recovery, resiliency and respect
By Phyllis Hanlon
Approximately eight years after an Inpatient Study Report from the Department of Mental Health (DMH) recommended the consolidation of Worcester State Hospital with Westborough State Hospital and construction of a new building, that suggestion will soon become reality. Nearing completion, the Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital (WRCH) will begin serving individuals with severe and persistent mental illness in its new state-of-the-art facility by summer’s end. According to Marcia Fowler, M.A., J.D., commissioner of the Department of Mental Health, the new hospital represents the largest non-road construction project in the Commonwealth’s history. The 430-square foot structure, adjacent to the old hospital, [More]
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Medicare cuts may spur withdrawals
By Pamela Berard
Reimbursement for Medicare outpatient psychotherapy services was slashed 5 percent as a result of recent payroll tax legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services cut Medicare psychotherapy payment rates in 2006, but since then, due to persistent pressure from the APA Practice Organization and grassroots psychologists, four laws successfully restored 5 percent of that payment. But the “Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012” effective March 1 did not include that provision. Katherine C. Nordal, Ph.D., Executive Director for Professional Practice, American Psychological Association Practice organization, [More]
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Autism-specific child psychiatry units grow in New England hospitals
By Jennifer E Chase
A December 2011 study was the first to identify an obvious effect to a high-profile cause: The number of U.S. hospitals with child psychiatric units geared toward the special needs of autistic patients is increasing. Each of the nine nationwide specialized hospital units identified in the study provides a web of services as complex as the patients they serve, many of whose co morbid mental illness diagnoses land them in hospitals each year because of aggression, self injury and elopement. And of the nine units, the majority are in New England. Matthew Siegel, M.D., wrote the study and published it [More]
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Closing the gap: appropriate mental health treatment for all
By Phyllis Hanlon
Nearly a decade ago, the Institutes of Medicine (IOM) released the report “Unequal Treatment, Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care,” which drew attention to the inconsistencies in treating minorities. The Center for Disease Control’s Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities released findings that extend this inequity to women and children. Slow progress is being made to rectify disproportionate treatment, but much more needs to be done. A number of factors contribute to treatment disparity, including stereotyping, according to Richard Gabriel Frank, Ph.D., Margaret T. Morris Professor of Health Economics in the Department of Health Care Policy at [More]
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Law shifts care to community-based focus
By Pamela Berard
Vermont legislators passed legislation to create a decentralized system of mental health care in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, which forced the closure of the 54-bed Vermont State Hospital last summer. Gov. Peter Shumlin in April signed into law a bill that shifts care from the institution-based system to a more community-based focus. The Vermont House of Representatives and Senate each approved plans in February, but the bills had one difference: the size of the state-owned and operated acute inpatient psychiatric facility to be built in central Vermont. The House approved a bill calling for construction of a 25-bed facility; [More]
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Brattleboro Retreat undergoes $12 million upgrade
By Pamela Berard
The Brattleboro Retreat is in the midst of a $12 million upgrade, which includes unit renovations and the addition of an electronic medical records system and the Omnicell automated pharmacy delivery system. Renovations will continue this year and through 2013 and should see the addition of 15 new beds, for a total of 125 beds, says Robert E. Simpson Jr., MPH, DSW, president and CEO since 2006. Simpson says the Brattleboro Retreat will likely add about 35 additional employees to its team of about 640 during the upgrades, which include expansion of services, improvements to existing clinical areas and a [More]
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High Point plans 96-bed Middleborough facility
By Janine Weisman
The High Point Treatment Center has set a July 2014 target date to open a new 96-bed mental health and detox and rehabilitation facility on the site of the former St Luke’s Hospital in Middleborough, Mass. “With a little bit of luck,” Daniel Mumbauer, the New Bedford-based nonprofit organization’s president and chief financial officer, says of the timetable. So far luck has been on High Point’s side. The 65,000 square foot facility on the edge of downtown at 52 Oak St., was donated to High Point by Mary O’Donnell, a member of its board of directors. She acquired the property [More]
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The Providence Center helps bring first recovery school to R.I.
By Jennifer E Chase
Teens recovering from substance abuse have benefited from New England’s recovery high schools, which bridge the time between their discharge from treatment and the rigors of reentering their former school environment. With a unanimous vote in March by its Board of Regents, Rhode Island has approved a 2-year pilot program for the Ocean State’s first recovery high school, which will be run by The Providence Center (TPC) and will open this September for 10-20 students. TPC is a four-site non-profit organization that provides mental health and substance use services to more than 11,000 children, adolescents and adults across the state. [More]
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Quitting Time offers a safe haven
By Catherine Robertson Souter
It is the question that every medical facility administrator has to ask: What is it that makes a health program stand out? Many facilities have similar programs, from cancer screening programs to AIDs awareness to support groups or recovery programs. They run on similar modalities – education, therapeutic interventions, self-awareness exercises and more. But what makes a program succeed? For the administrators of the Quitting Time Program at Hampstead Hospital in N.H., the piece that really makes the difference is the staff. When it comes down to it the success of a program it depends on the intangible qualities contributed [More]
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Leading the way: A program for the new century
By Catherine Robertson Souter
The world today has become more complex and leaders must find a way to adapt to the changes, all the while being sensitive to the same cultural, emotional and economic issues that have always been part of the mix. This fall, the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology will initiate the first leadership program rooted primarily in psychology with ten students from across the world coming together to learn how to navigate and inspire in the world today. The four-year Doctor of Psychology in Leadership Psychology program was created by Erik Gregory, Ph.D., who is the executive director of the Media [More]
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