Archive for » June 28th, 2012«

28 Jun 2012

Implications For Behavioral Health Of US Supreme Court Ruling On ACA


WASHINGTON, June 28, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –
Statement on Implications for Behavioral Health of the U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) By Mark Covall, President and CEO, National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been part of a growing national momentum to expand coverage for, access to, and quality of treatment for mental health and addictive disorders. Today’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of the ACA, thereby continuing progress that will bring more Americans much-needed coverage for mental health and addictive disorders.

The Supreme Court decision continues the positive national movement towards ensuring that mental health and addiction are on par with other medical conditions. Policymakers, businesses, and insurers all agree that we need to deal with mind and body as one. The passage in 2008 of the mental health and addiction parity law (the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act) set a strong framework for the goal of fairness and equity in health insurance coverage of behavioral and medical conditions.

By upholding the ACA and its provisions that require individuals to have health insurance and that create health insurance exchanges, the Supreme Court decision means that millions of Americans who now do not have insurance (or who have inadequate insurance) will be able to purchase insurance. The ACA requires – for the first time in federal law – that the essential benefit package include “mental health and substance abuse” as one of 10 required coverage categories. It also extends the federal mental health parity law to small businesses and individuals inside and outside of the health exchanges.

The National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems (NAPHS) and its member organizations are committed to working with Congress, the administration, and all the key stakeholders to continue to strengthen our healthcare system and to ensure that all Americans have equitable mental health and addiction coverage.

Founded in 1933, the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems (NAPHS) advocates for behavioral health and represents provider systems that are committed to the delivery of responsive, accountable, and clinically effective prevention, treatment, and care for children, adolescents, adults, and older adults with mental and substance use disorders. Its members are behavioral healthcare provider organizations that own or manage more than 700 specialty psychiatric hospitals, general hospital psychiatric and addiction treatment units and behavioral healthcare divisions, residential treatment facilities, youth services organizations, and extensive outpatient networks.

Media Contacts:Carole Szpak202 393 6700, ext. 101comm@naphs.org

This news release was issued on behalf of Newswise(TM). For more information, visit
http://www.newswise.com .

SOURCE National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved


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Category: Mental Health  Tags: ,  Comments off
28 Jun 2012

Implications For Behavioral Health Of US Supreme Court Ruling On ACA


WASHINGTON, June 28, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –
Statement on Implications for Behavioral Health of the U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) By Mark Covall, President and CEO, National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been part of a growing national momentum to expand coverage for, access to, and quality of treatment for mental health and addictive disorders. Today’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of the ACA, thereby continuing progress that will bring more Americans much-needed coverage for mental health and addictive disorders.

The Supreme Court decision continues the positive national movement towards ensuring that mental health and addiction are on par with other medical conditions. Policymakers, businesses, and insurers all agree that we need to deal with mind and body as one. The passage in 2008 of the mental health and addiction parity law (the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act) set a strong framework for the goal of fairness and equity in health insurance coverage of behavioral and medical conditions.

By upholding the ACA and its provisions that require individuals to have health insurance and that create health insurance exchanges, the Supreme Court decision means that millions of Americans who now do not have insurance (or who have inadequate insurance) will be able to purchase insurance. The ACA requires – for the first time in federal law – that the essential benefit package include “mental health and substance abuse” as one of 10 required coverage categories. It also extends the federal mental health parity law to small businesses and individuals inside and outside of the health exchanges.

The National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems (NAPHS) and its member organizations are committed to working with Congress, the administration, and all the key stakeholders to continue to strengthen our healthcare system and to ensure that all Americans have equitable mental health and addiction coverage.

Founded in 1933, the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems (NAPHS) advocates for behavioral health and represents provider systems that are committed to the delivery of responsive, accountable, and clinically effective prevention, treatment, and care for children, adolescents, adults, and older adults with mental and substance use disorders. Its members are behavioral healthcare provider organizations that own or manage more than 700 specialty psychiatric hospitals, general hospital psychiatric and addiction treatment units and behavioral healthcare divisions, residential treatment facilities, youth services organizations, and extensive outpatient networks.

Media Contacts:Carole Szpak202 393 6700, ext. 101comm@naphs.org

This news release was issued on behalf of Newswise(TM). For more information, visit
http://www.newswise.com .

SOURCE National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved


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Category: Mental Health  Tags: ,  Comments off
28 Jun 2012

A space telescope to thwart deadly asteroids: Donations needed

NASA has an eye on the sky for massive asteroids, the kind that could turn our planet to pulp.  But “small” asteroids — the ones that could simply spur tsunamis, 100-megaton-type explosions and widespread death and destruction — aren’t a priority with NASA.

What the world needs is a privately funded telescope to keep an eye on the skies, says the B612 Foundation, spearheaded by a former NASA astronaut. The group, launched about 10 years ago, is now raising funds for just such a telescope — called the Sentinel. (B612 is the name of the asteroid home of the Little Prince, from the best-selling children’s novella of 1943, “Le Petit Prince” – the most famous work of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.)

The space agency is “extremely budget-constrained,” noted Scott Hubbard, a Stanford University engineering professor and the program architect for the Sentinel telescope project. He spoke to the Los Angeles Times on Thursday morning about the new fund-raising effort for the telescope — a project that, he says, has “planetary protection” at its heart.

Thursday’s fund-raising kickoff for the telescope coincides with the 104th anniversary of the Tunguska explosion in Siberia. On June 30, 1908, Hubbard said, experts believe an asteroid about 150 feet across exploded over Siberia in midair, devastating a large area.

“It didn’t kill anything probably but reindeer and musk ox,” said Hubbard (no relation to this writer), “but … every tree was flattened for maybe a radius of 50 miles.  This was a very, very powerful event … a 100-megaton event.”

The impact that created Meteor Crater in Arizona — 700 feet deep and 4,000 feet wide — was likely similar to a 20- or 30-megaton explosion, he said. 

“Even small asteroids can be extremely destructive and quite powerfully impact where they hit. Or if they explode in the air, it’s like an air-burst bomb.”

So the team behind the Sentinel aims to launch a spacecraft carrying the telescope in 2017 or 2018. With an orbit around the sun roughly similar to that of Venus, Hubbard said, the craft would survey and map the inner solar system for 5 1/2 years, looking for objects as small as 120 feet across.  The team hopes to give those on Earth warnings of catastrophic impacts years in advance.

According to the Sentinel team, only about 10,000 of the more than half-million asteroids whose orbits cross Earth’s — space rocks of the size in the Tunguska event — have been discovered and tracked.

Still, even Tunguska-type events are not common occurrences — Hubbard said model-based statistics put those at about once every 300 years, with the extinction-type events at every 60 million to 70 million years.

And, as noted in the Washington Post, there’s some doubt as to whether Sentinel could see all possible threats floating around in space. Tim Spahr of the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass., told the news outlet that that was a “spectacular” challenge.

Still, it’s an effort that the B612 Foundation believes is worthwhile.  The foundation was begun about 10 years ago by former astronaut Russell L. Schweickart.   Another former NASA astronaut, Ed Lu, is the current chairman of the foundation, and Hubbard is former director of NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.

The foundation has designed the telescope, and Ball Aerospace of Colorado has signed on to build it. NASA has agreed to allow use of its radio dishes for communcation, Hubbard said, and also is supplying some technical experts and a science team that will help gather and interpret data.

Now it’s fund-raising time. But the amount of funds that B612 is hoping to raise is fuzzy. The organization likens this project to “philanthropic projects such as museums, performing arts centers and academic buildings.”

For the spacecraft alone, however, the group is estimating that it will need hundreds of millions of dollars.  B612 has among its goals this lofty one: demonstrating “the power of private organizations … to carry out awe-inspiring projects for global good.”

Perhaps the foundation could consider a corporate sponsor. Would the foundation be willing to sell naming rights for the telescope? 

Or would the foundation consider the reality-show route, which the team behind Mars One has taken? That project aims to fund an effort to have a human colony on Mars by 2023 with a “media spectacle.”

“We’re not in the reality show business,” Hubbard said. “Most of the people involved in this have a very deep and serious space science background.”

It’s a philanthropic effort, he says:  “We’re not intending to sell data. Data will be passed on to NASA and then to the whole world.”

But, he said, the foundation welcomes “any philanthropic contribution.” And if the contributor is of high net worth?  The foundation is willing to talk.

ALSO:

Alien invasion? That’s OK with most Americans

Gay activists take swing at Chuck Norris for his Boy Scout diatribe

Waldo Canyon is the latest super fire — get used to them, expert says

Join Amy on Google+. Email: amy.hubbard@latimes.com


Similar news:
Category: Donations  Tags: ,  Comments off
28 Jun 2012

A space telescope to thwart deadly asteroids: Donations needed

NASA has an eye on the sky for massive asteroids, the kind that could turn our planet to pulp.  But “small” asteroids — the ones that could simply spur tsunamis, 100-megaton-type explosions and widespread death and destruction — aren’t a priority with NASA.

What the world needs is a privately funded telescope to keep an eye on the skies, says the B612 Foundation, spearheaded by a former NASA astronaut. The group, launched about 10 years ago, is now raising funds for just such a telescope — called the Sentinel. (B612 is the name of the asteroid home of the Little Prince, from the best-selling children’s novella of 1943, “Le Petit Prince” – the most famous work of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.)

The space agency is “extremely budget-constrained,” noted Scott Hubbard, a Stanford University engineering professor and the program architect for the Sentinel telescope project. He spoke to the Los Angeles Times on Thursday morning about the new fund-raising effort for the telescope — a project that, he says, has “planetary protection” at its heart.

Thursday’s fund-raising kickoff for the telescope coincides with the 104th anniversary of the Tunguska explosion in Siberia. On June 30, 1908, Hubbard said, experts believe an asteroid about 150 feet across exploded over Siberia in midair, devastating a large area.

“It didn’t kill anything probably but reindeer and musk ox,” said Hubbard (no relation to this writer), “but … every tree was flattened for maybe a radius of 50 miles.  This was a very, very powerful event … a 100-megaton event.”

The impact that created Meteor Crater in Arizona — 700 feet deep and 4,000 feet wide — was likely similar to a 20- or 30-megaton explosion, he said. 

“Even small asteroids can be extremely destructive and quite powerfully impact where they hit. Or if they explode in the air, it’s like an air-burst bomb.”

So the team behind the Sentinel aims to launch a spacecraft carrying the telescope in 2017 or 2018. With an orbit around the sun roughly similar to that of Venus, Hubbard said, the craft would survey and map the inner solar system for 5 1/2 years, looking for objects as small as 120 feet across.  The team hopes to give those on Earth warnings of catastrophic impacts years in advance.

According to the Sentinel team, only about 10,000 of the more than half-million asteroids whose orbits cross Earth’s — space rocks of the size in the Tunguska event — have been discovered and tracked.

Still, even Tunguska-type events are not common occurrences — Hubbard said model-based statistics put those at about once every 300 years, with the extinction-type events at every 60 million to 70 million years.

And, as noted in the Washington Post, there’s some doubt as to whether Sentinel could see all possible threats floating around in space. Tim Spahr of the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass., told the news outlet that that was a “spectacular” challenge.

Still, it’s an effort that the B612 Foundation believes is worthwhile.  The foundation was begun about 10 years ago by former astronaut Russell L. Schweickart.   Another former NASA astronaut, Ed Lu, is the current chairman of the foundation, and Hubbard is former director of NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.

The foundation has designed the telescope, and Ball Aerospace of Colorado has signed on to build it. NASA has agreed to allow use of its radio dishes for communcation, Hubbard said, and also is supplying some technical experts and a science team that will help gather and interpret data.

Now it’s fund-raising time. But the amount of funds that B612 is hoping to raise is fuzzy. The organization likens this project to “philanthropic projects such as museums, performing arts centers and academic buildings.”

For the spacecraft alone, however, the group is estimating that it will need hundreds of millions of dollars.  B612 has among its goals this lofty one: demonstrating “the power of private organizations … to carry out awe-inspiring projects for global good.”

Perhaps the foundation could consider a corporate sponsor. Would the foundation be willing to sell naming rights for the telescope? 

Or would the foundation consider the reality-show route, which the team behind Mars One has taken? That project aims to fund an effort to have a human colony on Mars by 2023 with a “media spectacle.”

“We’re not in the reality show business,” Hubbard said. “Most of the people involved in this have a very deep and serious space science background.”

It’s a philanthropic effort, he says:  “We’re not intending to sell data. Data will be passed on to NASA and then to the whole world.”

But, he said, the foundation welcomes “any philanthropic contribution.” And if the contributor is of high net worth?  The foundation is willing to talk.

ALSO:

Alien invasion? That’s OK with most Americans

Gay activists take swing at Chuck Norris for his Boy Scout diatribe

Waldo Canyon is the latest super fire — get used to them, expert says

Join Amy on Google+. Email: amy.hubbard@latimes.com


Similar news:
Category: Donations  Tags: ,  Comments off
28 Jun 2012

Tides, critics clash over charity’s claims of transparency

An environmental charity at the centre of the climaxing battle between green groups and the Conservative government opened its books on Wednesday, coming out on the offensive with an unprecedented, detailed account of its key grant recipients and major international donors.

Tides Canada, a Vancouver group that runs a grant-making foundation and a charity that backs environmental and social-justice projects, received $10.9-million in foreign funding in 2011 — amounting to 45% of the group’s total revenue, according to an accounting breakdown posted on its website. That is more than usual, Tides said, because of a large grant from the San Francisco-based Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to support marine planning and protect wild salmon in B.C.

Related

The rare release of such a detailed account comes on the heels of Ottawa’s warning that it will arm the tax department with $8 million to enforce the rules around political activity and foreign funding. To some analysts and charities, that move had everything to do with the ongoing clash between environmental groups and resource development — specifically the proposed $7-billion Northern Gateway pipeline project.

The battle has been public, with Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver accusing some groups of trying to “hijack” the regulatory system in the name of a “radical ideological agenda.”

And today, Tides Canada’s president and CEO struck back: At the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto, Ross McMillan advised the charitable sector not to keep “its head down” and passively weather the “current storm,” calling environmental protection a “a core value held dearly by Canadians.”

“Now is not the time to mince words and avoid calling the behaviour of the sector’s critics,” he told roughly 90 guests from the corporate, legal and charitable sectors. “And now is not the time to be cowed into silence by false accusations of partisanship.”

After the 30-minute speech, Mr. McMillan showed a web video central to its new “Strange Bedfellows” campaign to “highlight the good things that can happen when diverse interests come together to solve problems.” The video shows a corporate-looking woman rolling out of bed — disheveled, disoriented and half-dressed — and then leaving a man’s apartment papered with posters about protecting the fisheries and eating local. They swap text messages and thank Tides Canada for bringing them together to do “great work.” (Video below)

But it was not long before tensions in the room mounted during the QA session, when the head of an environment charity singled out Ethical Oil and Sun Media — who were both present at the event — as “willing to stoop to new depths” as part of what he called “scurrilous attacks.”

“[They] have thought nothing of swearing at people on air, daring the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council to come after them, daring the CRTC to come after them, uttering the most foul-mouthed profanities imaginable,” said Environmental Defence’s Rick Smith, whose earlier comments thanking Mr. McMillan for his “bravery” were met with loud applause.

In an interview after the speech, Ethical Oil’s executive director rebutted, saying Tides Canada abuses its charitable status and “loans out its charitable number to organizations that aren’t charities.”

Jamie Ellerton said the ramped up monitoring of foreign funding and political activity is a “good thing” and said a statement like Mr. Smith’s reveals nothing but “sour grapes.”

“They’re upset they’re being caught with their hand in the cookie jar, doing blatantly partisan and political activity,” he said. “So what are they doing? They’re going on attack mode.”

Groups like Tides, which is currently being audited by the Canada Revenue Agency just three years after its last audit, have recently said their resources go toward environmental initiatives and not to excessive political activity, which is allowable so long as it does not account for more than 10% of the charity’s work, nor to prohibited partisan activity.

Tides’ financial details show that in 2011 the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation gave the group $4.5 million for marine planning in B.C. and another $2.4 million to protect that province’s wild salmon population.

American foundations also gave Tides Canada $2 million in donations to support a land-use agreement between a First Nations community and the B.C. government. It received a further $775,000 from the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation for conservation and “human well-being outcomes” in the Great Bear Rainforest and Taku Watershed.

Finance Canada said Canadians expect charities to use donations almost entirely for charitable purposes, and said the government is “encouraged” that Tides Canada has posted its 2011 report online.

“Tides Canada has acknowledged that it – and all other charities engaging in political activities – need to be more transparent about the degree wealthy foreign organizations fund them,” spokesperson Mary Ann Dewey-Plante said in an email. “Many Canadians have reinforced the importance of this issue, especially as such special interest groups attack major sectors of the Canadian economy, like the natural resources sector, and the Canadian jobs they support.”

Meantime, Vivian Krause, a B.C. researcher investigating Tides Canada’s finances, questioned whether the group’s financial report is complete and forthcoming. Both Ms. Krause and Mr. Ellerton said the report left out donations from groups such as the U.S. Tides Foundation and the Oak Foundation. It is unclear, though, whether those revenues were, in fact, included in the $10.9-million figure, but were not explicitly named in the breakdown because they were not among the “five major initiatives” highlighted in the 2011 report.

Tides Canada had not responded to questions related to these other foreign groups as of Wednesday afternoon.

In his speech, Mr. McMillan said the concern should not be American influence but rather the “import of American-style political rhetoric and the simplification of issues into good and bad, white and black, us and them.”

“We come dangerously close to letting our public discourse devolve into a Canadian version of the Glen Beck Show,” he said, referring to the right-wing American talk-show host. “Whether you agree or disagree with these groups, protecting the freedom to voice competing ideas is a foundation of Canadian democracy.”

National Post
kcarlson@nationalpost.com


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Category: Charities  Tags: ,  Comments off
28 Jun 2012

Tides, critics clash over charity’s claims of transparency

An environmental charity at the centre of the climaxing battle between green groups and the Conservative government opened its books on Wednesday, coming out on the offensive with an unprecedented, detailed account of its key grant recipients and major international donors.

Tides Canada, a Vancouver group that runs a grant-making foundation and a charity that backs environmental and social-justice projects, received $10.9-million in foreign funding in 2011 — amounting to 45% of the group’s total revenue, according to an accounting breakdown posted on its website. That is more than usual, Tides said, because of a large grant from the San Francisco-based Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to support marine planning and protect wild salmon in B.C.

Related

The rare release of such a detailed account comes on the heels of Ottawa’s warning that it will arm the tax department with $8 million to enforce the rules around political activity and foreign funding. To some analysts and charities, that move had everything to do with the ongoing clash between environmental groups and resource development — specifically the proposed $7-billion Northern Gateway pipeline project.

The battle has been public, with Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver accusing some groups of trying to “hijack” the regulatory system in the name of a “radical ideological agenda.”

And today, Tides Canada’s president and CEO struck back: At the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto, Ross McMillan advised the charitable sector not to keep “its head down” and passively weather the “current storm,” calling environmental protection a “a core value held dearly by Canadians.”

“Now is not the time to mince words and avoid calling the behaviour of the sector’s critics,” he told roughly 90 guests from the corporate, legal and charitable sectors. “And now is not the time to be cowed into silence by false accusations of partisanship.”

After the 30-minute speech, Mr. McMillan showed a web video central to its new “Strange Bedfellows” campaign to “highlight the good things that can happen when diverse interests come together to solve problems.” The video shows a corporate-looking woman rolling out of bed — disheveled, disoriented and half-dressed — and then leaving a man’s apartment papered with posters about protecting the fisheries and eating local. They swap text messages and thank Tides Canada for bringing them together to do “great work.” (Video below)

But it was not long before tensions in the room mounted during the QA session, when the head of an environment charity singled out Ethical Oil and Sun Media — who were both present at the event — as “willing to stoop to new depths” as part of what he called “scurrilous attacks.”

“[They] have thought nothing of swearing at people on air, daring the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council to come after them, daring the CRTC to come after them, uttering the most foul-mouthed profanities imaginable,” said Environmental Defence’s Rick Smith, whose earlier comments thanking Mr. McMillan for his “bravery” were met with loud applause.

In an interview after the speech, Ethical Oil’s executive director rebutted, saying Tides Canada abuses its charitable status and “loans out its charitable number to organizations that aren’t charities.”

Jamie Ellerton said the ramped up monitoring of foreign funding and political activity is a “good thing” and said a statement like Mr. Smith’s reveals nothing but “sour grapes.”

“They’re upset they’re being caught with their hand in the cookie jar, doing blatantly partisan and political activity,” he said. “So what are they doing? They’re going on attack mode.”

Groups like Tides, which is currently being audited by the Canada Revenue Agency just three years after its last audit, have recently said their resources go toward environmental initiatives and not to excessive political activity, which is allowable so long as it does not account for more than 10% of the charity’s work, nor to prohibited partisan activity.

Tides’ financial details show that in 2011 the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation gave the group $4.5 million for marine planning in B.C. and another $2.4 million to protect that province’s wild salmon population.

American foundations also gave Tides Canada $2 million in donations to support a land-use agreement between a First Nations community and the B.C. government. It received a further $775,000 from the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation for conservation and “human well-being outcomes” in the Great Bear Rainforest and Taku Watershed.

Finance Canada said Canadians expect charities to use donations almost entirely for charitable purposes, and said the government is “encouraged” that Tides Canada has posted its 2011 report online.

“Tides Canada has acknowledged that it – and all other charities engaging in political activities – need to be more transparent about the degree wealthy foreign organizations fund them,” spokesperson Mary Ann Dewey-Plante said in an email. “Many Canadians have reinforced the importance of this issue, especially as such special interest groups attack major sectors of the Canadian economy, like the natural resources sector, and the Canadian jobs they support.”

Meantime, Vivian Krause, a B.C. researcher investigating Tides Canada’s finances, questioned whether the group’s financial report is complete and forthcoming. Both Ms. Krause and Mr. Ellerton said the report left out donations from groups such as the U.S. Tides Foundation and the Oak Foundation. It is unclear, though, whether those revenues were, in fact, included in the $10.9-million figure, but were not explicitly named in the breakdown because they were not among the “five major initiatives” highlighted in the 2011 report.

Tides Canada had not responded to questions related to these other foreign groups as of Wednesday afternoon.

In his speech, Mr. McMillan said the concern should not be American influence but rather the “import of American-style political rhetoric and the simplification of issues into good and bad, white and black, us and them.”

“We come dangerously close to letting our public discourse devolve into a Canadian version of the Glen Beck Show,” he said, referring to the right-wing American talk-show host. “Whether you agree or disagree with these groups, protecting the freedom to voice competing ideas is a foundation of Canadian democracy.”

National Post
kcarlson@nationalpost.com


Similar news:
Category: Charities  Tags: ,  Comments off
28 Jun 2012

New Mental Health Center for the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System Celebrates Its Grand Opening

PALO ALTO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

The Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System (VAPAHCS), along with
general contractor McCarthy
Building Companies, Inc. and architect The
Design Partnership, recently celebrated the grand opening of the new
90,000-square-foot Mental Health Center. A ceremonial ribbon-cutting
featured the Honorable Dr. Robert Petzel, Under Secretary for Health,
Veterans Affairs, as well as Congresswomen Zoe Lofgren and Anna Eshoo.
The ceremony commemorated a much-needed, highly functional facility to
house, support and heal the growing population of military personnel
coping with mental health issues after serving in the armed services.

“This was an important project for the VAPAHCS that will allow us to
consolidate all of our inpatient facilities under one roof,” said Jason
Nietupski, director of planning and development, VAPAHCS. “In addition
to seismic safety, the new Mental Health Center provides a modernized
healing and therapeutic environment for our veteran patients to receive
the best care and treatment that will greatly improve their quality of
life.”

The Mental Health Center, located on the VA’s Palo Alto campus, will
provide an array of inpatient and outpatient mental health services, as
well as a research unit. The facility includes four units, each with 20
inpatient psychiatric beds, for a total of 80 beds. It also includes a
separate mental health research and office pavilion, outdoor enclosed
gardens and a utility building to service the complex. The project
incorporates numerous features designed to enhance the treatment of
veterans, including: patient access to the landscaped gardens; ample use
of natural light; views to landscaped areas from all patient bedrooms;
and color, texture and material palettes selected to aid the healing
process.

Previously, the VAPAHCS functioned on two campuses in three separate
buildings. The services are now consolidated in the Mental Health Center
facility.

“We are thrilled to have been an integral part in building a such a
wonderful facility to service the critical needs of our men and women in
uniform,” said McCarthy Northern Pacific Division President Rich Henry.
“As the general contractor, we streamlined the project delivery with a
special emphasis on allowing the VAPAHCS to continue operating during
the entire construction process. It was an honor to come together with
VA officials, veterans and political dignitaries to celebrate the grand
opening of the new Mental Health Center.”

About McCarthy Building Companies, Inc.

McCarthy
Building Companies, Inc. is the nation’s 8th largest domestic
general contractor (Engineering News-Record, May 2012), and the
largest general building contractor in California (ENR California,
August 2011). With nearly 150
years of experience, McCarthy is one of the nation’s oldest,
privately held construction firms and one of California’s premier
commercial builders. Committed to the construction of high performance
buildings, the company provides general contracting, construction
management, program management and design/build services for healthcare,
educational, parking structure, entertainment, retail, laboratory,
biotechnical, microelectronic, and industrial facilities; office
buildings; tenant interiors; mixed-use; multifamily residential and
bridges and highways. In addition to Sacramento and San Francisco,
McCarthy has offices in Newport Beach and San Diego, Calif.; Phoenix;
Las Vegas; Dallas; Houston; St. Louis and Atlanta. McCarthy is 100
percent employee owned. More information about the company is
available online at www.mccarthy.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE: To download high resolutions images visit http://www.mccarthy.com/ftp-veterans-affairs-palo-alto-health-care-system


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Category: About Mental Health  Tags: ,  Comments off
28 Jun 2012

New Mental Health Center for the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System Celebrates Its Grand Opening

PALO ALTO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

The Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System (VAPAHCS), along with
general contractor McCarthy
Building Companies, Inc. and architect The
Design Partnership, recently celebrated the grand opening of the new
90,000-square-foot Mental Health Center. A ceremonial ribbon-cutting
featured the Honorable Dr. Robert Petzel, Under Secretary for Health,
Veterans Affairs, as well as Congresswomen Zoe Lofgren and Anna Eshoo.
The ceremony commemorated a much-needed, highly functional facility to
house, support and heal the growing population of military personnel
coping with mental health issues after serving in the armed services.

“This was an important project for the VAPAHCS that will allow us to
consolidate all of our inpatient facilities under one roof,” said Jason
Nietupski, director of planning and development, VAPAHCS. “In addition
to seismic safety, the new Mental Health Center provides a modernized
healing and therapeutic environment for our veteran patients to receive
the best care and treatment that will greatly improve their quality of
life.”

The Mental Health Center, located on the VA’s Palo Alto campus, will
provide an array of inpatient and outpatient mental health services, as
well as a research unit. The facility includes four units, each with 20
inpatient psychiatric beds, for a total of 80 beds. It also includes a
separate mental health research and office pavilion, outdoor enclosed
gardens and a utility building to service the complex. The project
incorporates numerous features designed to enhance the treatment of
veterans, including: patient access to the landscaped gardens; ample use
of natural light; views to landscaped areas from all patient bedrooms;
and color, texture and material palettes selected to aid the healing
process.

Previously, the VAPAHCS functioned on two campuses in three separate
buildings. The services are now consolidated in the Mental Health Center
facility.

“We are thrilled to have been an integral part in building a such a
wonderful facility to service the critical needs of our men and women in
uniform,” said McCarthy Northern Pacific Division President Rich Henry.
“As the general contractor, we streamlined the project delivery with a
special emphasis on allowing the VAPAHCS to continue operating during
the entire construction process. It was an honor to come together with
VA officials, veterans and political dignitaries to celebrate the grand
opening of the new Mental Health Center.”

About McCarthy Building Companies, Inc.

McCarthy
Building Companies, Inc. is the nation’s 8th largest domestic
general contractor (Engineering News-Record, May 2012), and the
largest general building contractor in California (ENR California,
August 2011). With nearly 150
years of experience, McCarthy is one of the nation’s oldest,
privately held construction firms and one of California’s premier
commercial builders. Committed to the construction of high performance
buildings, the company provides general contracting, construction
management, program management and design/build services for healthcare,
educational, parking structure, entertainment, retail, laboratory,
biotechnical, microelectronic, and industrial facilities; office
buildings; tenant interiors; mixed-use; multifamily residential and
bridges and highways. In addition to Sacramento and San Francisco,
McCarthy has offices in Newport Beach and San Diego, Calif.; Phoenix;
Las Vegas; Dallas; Houston; St. Louis and Atlanta. McCarthy is 100
percent employee owned. More information about the company is
available online at www.mccarthy.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE: To download high resolutions images visit http://www.mccarthy.com/ftp-veterans-affairs-palo-alto-health-care-system


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28 Jun 2012

Statement Of Mental Health America On Supreme Court’s Decision Upholding …


ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 28, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –
Mental Health America today released the following the statement from Dr. David Shern, president and CEO, on the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act.

“The decision of the Supreme Court to uphold the Affordable Care Act is a tremendous victory for the American public, including millions of individuals living with mental health and substance use conditions.

“The law represents an enormous step forward in our efforts to expand access to care for individuals with mental health or substance use conditions and in our advocacy for prevention of these conditions. Mental health and substance use conditions are among the most prevalent of health conditions, with the age of onset for these illnesses occurring in adolescence and young adulthood. Half of all people with a mental health diagnosis first experience it by age 14, but will not receive treatment until age 24. These delays have been importantly underwritten by historical discrimination in insurance coverage for mental illnesses and addictions. Owing in part to these delays in treatment, mental health and substance use conditions account for a greater burden of disease than any other illness class and constitute an important group of pre-existing conditions. The law’s guarantee of coverage for people with pre-existing conditions will address these barriers, lower costs, end discrimination, and dramatically improve health outcomes.

“It is estimated that one-fifth to one-third of uninsured Americans have mental and substance use disorders. Of the estimated 32 million people who will gain coverage, about 4 to 6 million will have untreated mental illnesses or addictions. By including mental health and substance use services on the list of essential benefits that are to be covered in new plans offered to the uninsured beginning in 2014, the law recognizes how integral behavioral health is to overall health. And it extends the groundbreaking Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act and its prohibition of discriminatory limits on mental health and substance use services to those plans. The expansion of Medicaid also requires those who are newly eligible to receive mental health and substance use services at parity with other benefits. State participation in the Medicaid expansion is therefore critically important. Since today’s ruling allows states to opt out of the expansion without penalty to their current Medicaid programs, MHA affiliates around the nation will be working with their state governments to ensure state participation. The law also includes prevention, early intervention, and treatment of mental and substance use disorders as an integral part of improving and maintaining overall health.

“The law is already improving access to care and reducing costs. More than 2.5 million young adults who were uninsured have gained coverage because of the provision that allows them to stay on their parents plan till the age of 26. Most health plans cannot limit or deny benefits or deny coverage outright for a child younger than age 19 simply because the child has a “preexisting condition.” Given the early age of onset, these provisions are critically important for children and young adults who have mental and addictive disorders. The parents of over 17.6 million children with pre-existing conditions no longer have to worry that their children will be denied coverage because of such a health problem. And in 2014, the law will prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage or charging more to any person based on their medical history. In addition, as a result of the law, 86 million Americans now receive coverage through their private health insurance plan for many preventive services without copays or deductibles.

“The law is providing Americans security, peace of mind and control over their health care. Now that the Court has spoken, it is time to end efforts to dismantle or repeal it which will not serve the public interest. It is time to stand up for the health and well-being of children, families and seniors and serve their interests.”

Mental Health America (
www.mentalhealthamerica.net ) is the nation’s largest and oldest community-based network dedicated to helping all Americans achieve wellness by living mentally healthier lives. With our more than 300 affiliates across the country, we touch the lives of millions–Advocating for changes in mental health and wellness policy; Educating the public providing critical information; and delivering urgently needed mental health and wellness Programs and Services.

SOURCE Mental Health America

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved


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28 Jun 2012

Sullivan’s reinstatement inspires a flood of donations to U-Va.

Soon after, Teresa Sullivan was reinstated as president of the University of Virginia on Tuesday afternoon, donations began to arrive at a much quicker rate than usual.

Some of the gifts were large — like the two anonymous donors who each pledged to give $1 million each in support of Sullivan. And some gifts consisted of just five bucks submitted online. The total amount collected since the reinstatement, as of Wednesday evening: $2.5 million in major gifts. And $218,910.95 from 657 online donors.


U-Va. President Teresa Sullivan speaks to the board after she was reinstated on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
(Steve Helber – AP)
Of the online gifts, 115 were earmarked for the President’s Fund for Excellence, an unrestricted discretionary fund that’s often used to launch special initiatives, address immediate needs and strengthen academic and student-life programs. In past years, the fund has paid to keep faculty members who had offers of higher pay at other universities.

The university passed along some of the comments that donors included with their online gifts:

“This is for the President and the University to spend on anything except intercollegiate athletics — however you see fit/wherever there’s a need. Thank you for hanging tough President Sullivan.” Arlington, Va.

“This small gift is a token of my appreciation that President Sullivan has been reinstated and will continue to guide the University into the future.” Washington D.C.

“A gift in honor of the community coming together to make the right decision after adversity.” Brookline, Mass.

“This gift is made in honor of President Teresa Sullivan and her courageous vision for the future of the University.” Chicago

“Please make this gift IN HONOR OF President Terry Sullivan.” Barboursville, Va.

“Thank you UVA for doing the right thing today.” Charlottesville

“This gift is in celebration of President Sullivan’s reinstatement.” Denver

“Thank you for reinstating Dr. Sullivan.” Jacksonville, Fl.

I am based in Charlottesville this week, and you can follow me on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news on the university’s presidential shake-up. Here are some of our recent articles:

U-Va. board of visitors gets sarcastic fan mail

Thomas Jefferson claimed by all parties in presidency fight

A profile of U-Va. President Teresa Sullivan

Other universities draw lessons from U-Va. crisis


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