Legislative

The National Council provides a summary of relevant healthcare issues in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). Full Story

Policy

The federal government should make preventing mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders and promoting mental health in young people a national priority, says a new report from the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. These disorders — which include depression, anxiety, conduct disorder, and substance abuse — are about as common as fractured limbs in children and adolescents. Collectively, they take a tremendous toll on the well-being of young people and their families, costing the U.S. an estimated $247 billion annually, the report Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders Among Young People says. Full Story An in person briefing on the report will be help Mar. 25 in Washington, DC. To register click here.

On Feb. 12 , the U.S. Court of Federal Claims announced their decision in three cases heard before the Court on the MMR/thimerosal theory of autism causation. The decisions and background information can be found by clicking here. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued the following statement - "As these cases illustrated, there's no doubt that autism and autism spectrum disorders place a heavy burden on many families. That is one reason why the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services continues to support research to better understand the cause of autistic disorders and develop more effective methods of treatment. The medical and scientific communities have carefully and thoroughly reviewed the evidence concerning the vaccine-autism theory and have found no association between vaccines and autism. " Read the full statement.

Issues & Events

A recently released report from SAMHSA, Adolescent Mental Health: Service Settings and Reasons for Receiving Care, found that 12.5% of adolescents received treatment or counseling in a specialty mental health setting, 11.5% received services in a school-based education setting, and 2.8% received services in a general medical setting. Click here to read the report.

SAMHSA has developed 51 new short reports providing key information about the level of substance abuse and mental health problems prevalent in the population (age 12 and older) of each state and the District of Columbia. The reports also provide data on treatment facilities and admission data for each state and the District of Columbia, as well as the funding each state and the District of Columbia received from SAMHSA. Full Story

The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors has posted slides from the recent CDC Webinar entitled Crisis and Credibility Communication. The presentation focuses on crisis and emergency risk communication, reputational risk, and delivering difficult news. Click here to view the slides.

APNA Highlights

CPI Conference Registration Opens Feb. 27
The 7th Annual Clinical Psychopharmacology Institute, June 26-28, 2009 in Reston, VA, will focus on complex clinical issues addressing the most current practices and insights on clinical psychopharmacology. CPI is appropriate for generalist and advanced practice psychiatric nurses - especially those who administer and/or prescribe medications. Click here for more information.

Call For Abstracts Deadline Mar. 2
The 2009 APNA Conference Committee invites you to submit an abstract to be considered for presentation at the 23rd Annual Conference. The theme for this year's conference is Many Differences. One Voice. Practice, Research, Education, Administration. Click here for more information. Make your submission online by clicking here.