 You’re part of a movement where every minute EveryDay Matters. You are involved in a community that takes action every day. To reach the goals of recovery and healthy lives, EveryDay matters. EveryDay Matters is not just a mantra; it’s a movement. And, you’re part of it. Now, you can connect with others, who are also part of this movement, through EveryDayMatters.com -- a website for those who are cause-connected, passionate and vision driven about our opportunities in the behavioral and public health community. Clinicians, practitioners, consumers and vendors in behavioral and public health organizations, as well as industry vendors, are encouraged to share stories that celebrate successes and debunk myths and stigma about mental and public health issues. Our hope is you will be inspired and enlightened, ask questions, share opinions, eliminate barriers and celebrate successes. |
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  "The Times They Are A-Changin..." - Bob Dylan There has probably never been a time of greater change in the healthcare industry than now. Politically, the introduction of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has led to significant changes both in terms of health care policy and reimbursement, but also by stimulating the adoption of Electronic Health Records. This will force many organizations to finally move off of paper to electronic systems. Change is never easy. Clinically, the types and numbers of treatments that are known to be effective continue to increase and providers are being held to increasingly higher levels of clinical accountability. Financially, the US economy is in the doldrums. State budgets are being slashed and, often, the least able among us are forced to shoulder the burden of these cuts. Through all this change, one constant I’ve observed has been the commitment of people working in the behavioral health and public health industries. Let’s face it, these are not the highest paying nor the “sexiest” branches of health care. So, clinical professionals who work with these very difficult clients have always impressed me. Sure, we all know health care is about helping others but let’s be candid here, some work is harder than others. Helping people with chronic disabilities can be among the most difficult. This is true regardless of whether the disability is physical or mental. To hang in there day-after-day when progress is slow, relapses are frequent and financial resources to do what needs to be done are lacking, would task even the most dedicated care provider. But that’s exactly what we see in our industry – people helping others with a level of commitment and positive attitude that would shock even Norman Vincent Peale. The people working in our industry are amazing. + Read More
Early in the recovery movement, there was a saying that what people with serious mental illness wanted was “a home, a job and a date on Saturday night.” I sure hope that’s not all they want. Worse, I think it misses the point. What people want is to be able to live their lives under their own terms. We’re all going to have more control, and therefore more power, over our own healthcare. But, as Spiderman was warned, “With great power comes great responsibility.” So too it is with our own healthcare.
The tradeoff for autonomy is responsible decision making. All forms of sickness carry varying levels of denial with them. People with other chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes and asthma can and do make bad decisions about their health. But what happens if the organ responsible for decision making is impaired, as is the case in behavioral health? Then it’s the responsibility of that person to make appropriate preparations ahead of time. For that reason, I’d like to see psychiatric advanced directives used and recognized more by attending providers. Families can help with this, but it’s really the provider community that has to come to grips with the myriad of changes coming their way. Personally, I believe the NBT (Next Big Thing) will be Personal Health Records (PHR) that will comprehensively summarize our health care and is available on demand to both the patient and the provider. Unfortunately, despite a number of attempts, PHRs are still not quite ready for prime time. When they are ready, information will be available to us virtually, wherever we are. I was fortunate to attend TEDMED 2011 last year and heard a wonderful presentation by Tom Goetz, Executive Editor of Wired Magazine. Check it out at http://www.tedmed.com/videos. His presentation was titled It's Time To Redesign Medical Data. It’s worth watching. He challenges us to think present, in this case, lab data, in a way that makes it more actionable to the folks who can do something about it – consumers. He suggested that there are four questions everyone one of us should ask when we are seeing a healthcare provider:
What are you doing to change the way healthcare is delivered? How do we finally rid society of the terrible stigma around mental illness and addiction? You may not have answers but you sure have ideas and examples of things that have worked. Let’s hear them. With all the changes heading our way, we really do need to know… …What next? |
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