Mental health in veterans is crisis across Arizona
December 11, 2018PHOENIX – The tragedy in California is highlighting the mental health care crisis prevalent all over the nation, including here in Arizona.
According to the Treatment Advocacy Center, a minimum of 50 beds per 100,000 people is considered necessary to provide minimally adequate treatment for individuals with severe mental illness. Like every state, Arizona fails to meet this minimum standard with 302 beds, that is just 4.4 beds for every 100,000 people.
Staff at the Phoenix VA healthcare systems said despite the Read More
US to give states leeway to expand inpatient mental health
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is opening the door for states to provide more inpatient treatment for people with serious mental illness by tapping Medicaid programs.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar made the announcement Tuesday in a speech to state Medicaid directors.
The lack of inpatient treatment beds for people with serious mental illness is a common denominator among several national concerns: homelessness, police shootings, and mass violence by people with serious mental problems.
A longstanding federal law barred Medicaid from Read More
How To Be Supportive Of Your Partner With Mental Illness
Being in a relationship with someone you love can be beautiful. It can also be difficult, as you face the hurdles of everyday life. But if your partner struggles with mental illness, those issues can become much more intense for both of you. Understanding the needs of someone with mental illness is challenging. And you may not know how to support your partner living with mental illness while caring for your own needs, too. Here are a few ways you Read More
NAMI Excited With New Opportunities To Improve Medicaid Mental Health Care
Secretary Alex Azar, U.S. Health & Human Services, announced that the Administration will allow states to apply for Medicaid waivers to pay for mental health treatment in inpatient settings known as IMDs, or institutions of mental disease. Historically, Medicaid has not paid for treatment in these settings for most adults. While this policy was intended to reduce inhumane institutionalization, it also resulted in unequal coverage of mental health and, tragically, a lack of appropriate options for people with severe mental health Read More
Changes to Arizona’s Medicaid meant to improve experience, efficiency
(Creative Commons Photo/Paul Brennan)
PHOENIX – Arizona’s Medicaid agency has blended its health-care programs for mental and physical health for 1.5 million people in a move to increase efficiency and improve patient health.
The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, known as AHCCCS, now contracts with organizations to manage coverage of such physical ailments as diabetes and heart disease, as well as behavioral-health needs, including therapy, counseling and substance-abuse treatment.
Before the change, which took effect Oct. 1, some Arizonans enrolled Read More
Virtual reality therapy has real-life benefits for some mental disorders
Edwin adjusted his headset and gripped the game controller in both hands. He swallowed hard. The man had good reason to be nervous. He was about to enter a virtual environment tailor-made to get his heart pumping way more than any action-packed video game: a coffee shop full of people.
Determined to overcome his persistent fear that other people want to hurt him, Edwin had enrolled in a study of a new virtual reality therapy. The research aimed Read More