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Psychiatrists Begin Revising Diagnostic Manual For Mental Illnesses
Over the next 18 months, psychiatrists will revise the American Psychiatric Association"s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is used to determine how U.S. residents" mental health is assessed, diagnosed and treated, the Los Angeles Times reports. Since the manual was last updated in 1994, technologies such as brain imaging and new understandings of the biological and genetic causes of many disorders have "almost guaranteed alterations" in the number of mental disorders included in fifth DSM volume, which is scheduled to be published in 2012, the Times reports.While some psychiatrists argue the manual should be broad enough to determine treatment for those who need it, others are concerned that if too broad, the manual will diagnose conditions that would otherwise be considered normal human behavior. David Kupfer, a psychiatrist at the University of Pittsburgh"s Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinics and chair of the DSM-V task force, said the DSM-V will recognize variations of disorders that have not been seen as part of "classic" illnesses, and will describe disorders in more detail, including how they differ based on race, gender, age, physical health and culture. Health insurance companies use the manual to determine coverage options for certain treatments.People involved in the revisions said the manual will be a better reflection of mental conditions of "real" people, rather than just those with the most severe cases of disorders or obvious diagnoses, the Times reports (Roan, Los Angeles Times, 5/26).
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Why We Should Change The Way We Think About Genetics
For years, genes have been considered the one and only way biological traits could be passed down through generations of organisms.
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Philips Introduces Three New Products To Improve Performance And Patient Comfort For Hospital And Home Ventilation
Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) introduced three new respiratory support devices: the Respironics V60 and V200, and Trilogy100 ventilators. These ventilation solutions are intended to support breathing in the intensive care, sub-acute, and home care settings. As a family of products, the three devices are well-suited to address the ventilation care challenges that clinicians face on a daily basis, such as treating respiratory failure from exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) while avoiding ventilator-associated pneumonia.
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Massachusetts Could Provide Model To Pay For Reform

USA Today reports that three years after mandating coverage for all, Massachusetts is emerging as national model. Massachusetts is wrangling with the idea of changing how doctors and hospitals are paid to help finance its soaring health costs. The way they want to do so is by rewarding results. "As Washington wrestles with the idea of overhauling the nation"s health care system, the Bay State offers an object lesson in how to do it in stages. It"s an approach favored by state officials but rejected by the Obama administration, which is intent on addressing coverage, cost and quality all at once. Massachusetts dealt with coverage first: just 2.6% of state residents remain uninsured, compared with more than 15% nationally. That"s due in part to the 2006 law, which said most residents must get insurance, most employers must help provide it, and most taxpayers must help pay for it. "Dealing with cost and quality has proved trickier. Higher health care costs fueled a combined $9 billion gap in the state"s 2009 and 2010 budgets that had to be closed last month, leaving less for education, public safety, the environment and other services." Nationally, the president "seeks to extend insurance to up to 46 million people without it. At the same time, he wants to slow the growth of Medicare and Medicaid, now projected to rise from 5% of the nation"s economy to more than 17% by 2080." Some lessons to learn from Massachusetts, USA Today reports: Sell it to the public, don"t alienate interest groups and prepare for years of trial and error (Wolf, 7/23). This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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