TGIF

The AMA News has an interesting article about innovative ways to cut emergency room overuse.

There is no standard definition for what constitutes frequent emergency department use, but researchers set four or more annual visits as a cutoff. The 8% of patients who use the emergency department four-plus times a year account for 28% of adult ED visits, according to a July 2006 Annals of Emergency Medicine study.

Not surprisingly, the article explains that coordinating care is critical which can be difficult to accomplish between medical and mental health providers.  The article identifies pilot programs that are underway to improve care coordination.

The Labor Department has created a mental health benefits parity web page and a new set of FAQs on understanding implementation of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. The new FAQs are not terribly enlightening. The most informative recent FAQs on this topic are labelled ACA FAQs VII.

The Food and Drug Administration's external advisory panels have been meeting this week. News reports indicate that the panels are suggesting that the FDA approve a new over the counter, rapid response test for the HIV virus, the use of a drug called Truvada as a treatment for preventing HIV infection in people at risk for contracting AIDS, and a new anti-obesity drug called Lorquess. Final approval of these recommendations must come from the FDA itself.