Medicare recently came out with its “Never Pay” guidelines. The presumed motivation is the exponentially rising cost of medical care over the years that payers cannot sustain. The largest payer in the world is the U.S. Government in the form of Medicare payments. In an effort to reduce costs,... Read more →

A recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) released articles dedicated to the study of conflict, human rights, and international mental health consequences. Some of the most striking papers dealt specifically with the psychological effects of war as well as the implications... Read more →

Legislation in Massachusetts has been proposed this year that would require licensed hospitals to make video and audio recordings of all surgeries. If you were a patient having surgery, would you want your surgery to be videotaped? As you can imagine, this piece of legislation has met strong opposition... Read more →

Last month, the U.S. Senate approved what will be known as the Mental Health Parity Bill. This piece of legislation will require group health plans with mental health benefits to offer them at the same level as physical health benefits. The measure does not affect individual insurance plans but only... Read more →