New psych hospital in Indy marks break with ‘failing model’
The Pence administration’s decision to spend $120 million on a new psychiatric hospital represents a stark shift from the state’s approach to mental health of the past 30 years.
Mental Health
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Autism likelier when antidepressants taken during pregnancy
A new study says women who took a common class of antidepressants during the second and third trimesters were more than twice as likely than other women to have children who later developed autism.
Federal grant to help integrate primary care, mental health
Centerstone, which provides mental health services across southern Indiana, received $1.6 million to integrate primary care and mental health in Bloomington and surrounding Monroe County.
Little Star autism-therapy center to open second Lafayette outpost
The Carmel-based provider of applied behavior analysis therapy said its existing Lafayette facility is at capacity and it expects more demand next year.
IU researchers develop suicide-prediction tool
Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine think they have found a way to predict possible suicides using blood tests and questionnaires on tablet computers.
Parents of autistic children gird for showdown with Anthem
After an Elkhart couple with an autistic son sued insurer Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield this month, autism families around the state started a campaign to get Anthem to change its policy for covering therapy for school-age children.
Experts: Telemedicine can bridge mental health gap
Modern technology offers a way to deliver much-needed mental health care to rural sections of Indiana where little or none is available, experts told a legislative study committee Thursday.
Sheriffs: Mentally ill people swamping Indiana jails
County jails have become the "insane asylum" for Indiana as state hospital care for the mentally ill has declined, a sheriff told a legislative committee in Indianapolis on Monday.
Insurance changes put state’s autism industry on edge
Indiana’s autism therapists say their prospects are cloudy after the state’s largest health insurer, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, cut payments 40 percent and took a harder line on paying for therapy for school-age children.
Lilly study: 1 in 5 Alzheimer’s patients misdiagnosed
The study results, which will be released Monday afternoon, are part of Indianapolis-based Lilly’s campaign to get Medicare to pay for use of its brain imaging agent Amyvid.
Despite funding dip, IU bets on brains
The city that brought the world Prozac and other neuroscience drugs is doubling down on brain research with a new $52 million research center near Methodist Hospital.
Cancer tools help Roche with Alzheimer’s drug
Treatments for central nervous system diseases have a huge potential payoff, analysts say. A hint of whether the gamble may pay off is due in the second half of this year, as Eli Lilly and Co. and Pfizer Inc. announce results for Alzheimer’s drugs that attack the same protein as Roche’s experimental drug.
Wishard to use $8.3M grant to stem substance abuse
At three community health centers, all patients will be asked about their alcohol and drug usage confidentially, as part of an early-intervention approach designed to cut down addictions and reduce hospitalization.
IU shrink explores mental health blood tests
Dr. Alexander B. Niculescu, a psychiatrist at the IU School of Medicine, has won a five-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to hunt for the presence of certain proteins in the blood that would indicate that a patient suffers from a mood disorder, which afflicts one in five Americans.
Widowed car dealer Christine Burd becomes mental health advocate
Burd, who is president of Burd Ford, a mother of four, and a fixture on television commercials for the dealership, has become
an advocate for mental health following her husband’s suicide.
Neurosis and dying: Now you know
Believe it or not, until Purdue University psychologist Daniel Mroczek tackled the question, no had delved into why people who freak out easily die earlier than mellow folks.
State law aims to attract doctors to areas in need of care
A state law that went into effect July 1 attempts to attract young physicians and mental health practitioners to underserved
areas by forgiving part of their student loans. But Indiana’s budget woes prevented lawmakers from allocating funds
to support the program.
Wishard squeezes in more patients
Occupancy at Wishard Hospital was 98 percent before the recession and is still that high, and more people have been coming as inpatients and as mental health patients, forcing the hospital to come up with creative ways to handle the load.
State to privatize mental-health hospital
State officials are advancing plans to privatize a state-run hospital for the mentally ill and now are looking for a not-for-profit
to build and manage a new facility in Indianapolis.