Vermont Public Television, in collaboration with Vermont Law School, the University of Vermont College of Medicine and the Vermont office of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, will receive a 2010 EDGE Award from the Association of Public Television Stations for the “Minds on the Edge: Facing Mental Illness” project. The “Minds on the Edge” project included television broadcasts, a legal symposium and Web-based and on-the-ground community meetings as part of a month-long campaign in October 2009 to raise public awareness about the challenges, solutions and impact of mental illness on Vermont communities.

Governor Jim Douglas today announced his full support for both the Future’s Plan concept and the specific recommendations of the Department of Mental Health. The Governor also announced a funding plan that will allow these new facilities to open starting in 2012 and fully close the Vermont State Hospital by 2014.  The Governor proposes to appropriate any future extension of enhanced Medicaid matching funds (also known as FMAP) to fulfilling the plans outlined in the Future Group report. “Even in difficult financial times,” said Governor Douglas, “good ideas can move forward and be funded in a fiscally responsible manner."

A leading mental health advocate says the state has failed to make progress on treating mentally ill people at regional hospitals. So Ken Libertoff of the Vermont Association for Mental health says the state should replace the aging state hospital in Waterbury with a new facility.

Officials with the state of Vermont, Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center are discussing the possibility of building a secure 16-bed acute-care psychiatric unit at the VA's 64-acre campus that would serve Vermont residents and veterans needing intensive mental health care. Although the proposal is still in its conceptual stage, the state-owned facility, if built, might be staffed by Dartmouth physicians and would be part of an evolving plan to replace the problem-plagued Vermont State Hospital in Waterbury.

A Veterans Administration medical center is using telecommunications technology to expand its psychiatry practice to a community health clinic near the U.S.-Canadian border, allowing for one-on-one consults between doctor and patient 128 miles apart. The service, which will be expanded to three sites in New Hampshire, is available to veterans, members of the Vermont National Guard and their families.

As the state continues to inch forward with its plan to replace the beleaguered Vermont State Hospital, the Brattleboro Retreat is taking a giant leap forward in establishing a new statewide mental health care system to replace the troubled facility in Waterbury.  Next week, the Retreat expects to receive its first patients at the Meadowview community-based residential program.

The state of Vermont is considering a nearly $20 million cut to mental health services in its next budget, a reduction that advocates say could result in up to 3,000 people across the state losing services.

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Vermont Public Radio reports that a new report by Vermont Protection and Advocacy, which investigates allegations of abuse or neglect, says "Brattleboro Retreat could have improved the safety and treatment program of a patient who committed suicide at the psychiatric hospital last year." The report maintains that "Retreat staff failed to properly assess 42-year-old James Biggar of Keene, N.H., and provide increased levels of observation after his suicidal intentions became known... The report says those failures 'may have been critical factors' contributing to Biggar's death." In response, "Retreat spokesman Peter Albert says he can't discuss the Biggar case, but the Retreat is working to improve care for all patients."

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Vermont Public Radio reports that "protesters picketed a Montpelier movie theater showing the new movie Tropic Thunder [because they believe] the comedy is mean-spirited in the way it portrays a character with cognitive disabilities." The protestors chanted and carried signs. Deborah Lisi-Baker,  executive director of the Vermont Center for Independent Living, explained, "Vermonters should boycott the movie because of its depiction of 'Simple Jack,' a Ben Stiller character who's called derogatory names including moron and imbecile by others."

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The Burlington Free Press and Vermont Public Television report that the New England Autism Center, also known as Ellie's Place, is a nonprofit that "coordinates social and recreational opportunities for teens and young adults with Autism, including a three-week summer day camp experience in Chittenden County." The Center also organizes year-round bowling excursions at Yankee Lanes in Colchester on Friday afternoons. Ultimately, the organization hopes to "expand Ellie's Place into a group home, with on-site vocational training and opportunities available for  individuals with autism as they enter adulthood."

Link to Burlington Free Press article

Link to Vermont Public Television piece

Vermont Public Radio reports that the Vermont Association for Mental Health, a mental health advocacy group, "is calling on doctors and hospitals to reject gifts from the pharmaceutical industry" because they believe those gifts "create a conflict of interest that could compromise patient care." Notably according to the attorney general's office, "health care providers were paid about $2.25 million in 2006" from drug companies. "Psychiatrists were the specialists who got the most from drug companies" and "eleven psychiatrists received a total of $502,000."

Currently, the state "has a strict disclosure law that requires drug companies to report when they make payments of $25 or more to physicians." This law "exempts free samples and payments for clinical research trials" and requires companies to "disclose lecture fees, free meals, travel, and other perks."

Some of Vermont's health care organizations "have already taken steps to limit drug company payments." For example, "the University of Vermont Medical School unveiled a new policy last year that bans financial gifts to student and faculty." The UVM policy also prohibits student and faculty from accepting "pens and notepads that are frequently handed out by drug company reps." Fletcher Allen Health Care - the state's largest hospital - has similar rules in place [but] does allow drug companies to fund education conferences through unrestricted grants." Finally, "the Vermont Psychiatric Association is finalizing a policy that advises doctors against accepting gifts and payments."

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Update on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 01:24PM by VCF Staff

Federal law may weaken Vt. rules for drug-makers
The Times Argus reports that "a U.S. Senate bill requiring the pharmaceutical industry to report gifts and donations to the medical field would undermine a stronger Vermont law if passed, according to state officials and advocacy groups." The bill, which the U.S. is currently considering, "would for the first time set up a system requiring drug-makers to disclose the gifts, payments, travel reimbursements and other financial donations to doctors and others in the field." Notably, "the reporting threshold under the proposed federal law is $500 – much higher than the $25 threshold that a similar Vermont law, which was passed about five years ago. If passed, the federal bill would preempt the state law."

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The Bennington Banner reports that the "state government spent nearly $10 million providing psychiatric drugs to more than 6,000 children in a six-month period last year, in a mental health system that an advocacy group on Wednesday labeled 'out of control.'"  According to Ken Libertoff, executive director of the Vermont Association for Mental Health, "Drugs have greatly replaced clinical interventions and counseling in the world of children's mental health" and this environment needs to change in Vermont. 

In response, "both Mental Health Commissioner Michael Hartman and Joshua Slen, director of the state Office of Health Access, agreed that the use of psychiatric prescription drugs with Vermonters under 18 is a cause for concern." Hartman also disputed Libertoff's assertion that, 'Many if not most of these medications [prescribed to children] have never been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in the treatment of children and adolescents."

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The Bennington Banner reports that Mount Anthony Union (MAU) High School officials are "alarmed" by the results of the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey which reveal that "nearly one in four [MAU] students have felt so 'sad and hopeless that it affected daily life." In addition, "10 percent have thought about suicide." The survey also found that "students in the Southwestern Vermont Supervisory Union were deemed unmanageable and removed from their homes at three times the statewide average, which is 32.6 per 10,000 students." The survey also revealed a disturbing trend around prescription drug abuse: One out of five kids reported using prescription drugs for recreational purposes.

Notably since 2004, MAU has "expanded its staff to include three school based clinicians, who are licensed social workers, a school social worker and a student assistant councilor." In addition, "mentioning programs have been spurred and special events organized with local organizations are beginning to unfold." According to school based clinician Kristyn Harrington, MAU's goal "is to get community members, young people and adults, talking more."

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Vermont Public Radio reports that "Vermont lawmakers are considering a bill that would tune up the state's mental health parity law." The law, which was passed ten years ago, was "designed to make sure health insurers cover illnesses of the mind to an equal degree as those of the body." Lawmakers have begun to question, however, "how well the parity law is being implemented." Indeed according to lawmakers, "major health insurers in the state have 'carved out,' or subcontracted the management of mental health insurance claims, sometimes to out-of-state companies." The bill, if passed, would "give the state's Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration new authority to regulate the health insurance industry."

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The Rutland Herald reports that the Rutland Regional Medical Center (RRMC) has "unveiled [its] design for a proposed new psychiatric facility" and has asked the public for input. Notably, hospital addition "is part of a possible statewide approach to replace the state [mental] hospital in Waterbury." The RRMC facility will have about 25 beds and serve about 14 patients at one time. According to Jeffrey McKee, director of psychiatric services "much planning remains to be done on the project" including "a visit by hospital officials to the state hospital to talk to patients there."

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Update on Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 11:19AM by VCF Staff

Vermont Public Radio reports that the state has been "struggling to close" the 100-year old state psychiatric hospital in Waterbury and "find new ways to care for Vermonters with the most serious mental illnesses." Indeed, "a consensus has developed that many people should receive treatment through community mental health programs" and "many patients have now moved to those centers." The state must also "settle on a plan for transferring the rest of the [40-50] patients in Waterbury to specialized psychiatric units at community hospitals." The plans for a new psychiatric facility at the Rutland Regional Medical Center is considered "the first sign of concrete progress for in-patient care" for these Waterbury patients.

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Update on Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 01:29PM by VCF Staff

The Times Argus reports that "a replacement plan for the troubled Vermont State Hospital seems unlikely in this legislative session, tossing a political hot potato to lawmakers when they return to Montpelier next year." Recently, "the state has been trying to get Vermont's hospitals to sign onto a plan to care for more mentally ill patients in an effort to close Waterbury's State Hospital, which has been decertified by the federal government for past problems there."

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