I'll use this thread to introduce a somewhat different current topic... Obamacare and mental health.
There is an "experiment" going on in North Carolina that is being watched by many...
Today, the NY Times has an article that serves to introduce one of the new ideas to the public.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/26/he...it_th_20131226
NY Times
JULIE CRESWELL
December 25, 2013
E.R. Costs for Mentally Ill Soar, and Hospitals Seek Better Way
Quote:
<snip>
While there is evidence that other types of health care costs might be declining slightly,
the cost of emergency room care for the mentally ill shows no sign of ebbing. <snip>
Nationally, more than 6.4 million visits to emergency rooms in 2010,
or about 5 percent of total visits, involved patients whose primary diagnosis
was a mental health condition or substance abuse.
For decades, North Carolina resisted the broad mental health reforms.
But in 2000, state lawmakers moved to overhaul the state’s mental health system,
closing state facilities and pushing counseling and outpatient programs to local communities.<snip>
Uninsured patients rarely receive individual therapy, only group sessions.
And it can take up to three months to see a psychiatrist.
The head of Wake County Emergency Medical Services, Dr. Myers was also among
a handful of paramedics in the county who are trying to expand the role of first responders.
<snip>
Shortly thereafter, a group of Wake County paramedics began to be trained to perform
mental health exams on patients in the field who are judged not to be in need of emergency medical care.
By asking a series of questions, the paramedics are then able to evaluate a patient’s mental condition.
While giving a patient the option of going to a local emergency room if they prefer, they also offer the choice
of being taken to another facility that might be better suited to provide the kind of care they need.
Last year, more than half of the 450 patients identified with
mental illness asked to go somewhere other than the emergency room.
<snip>
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The importance here is that most laws, rules, and traditions,
have been to require transportation to hospital ER's only.
Obamacare may be the mechanism to change the system
into something more efficient and appropriate to the individual patient.