IoM Report: Substance Misuse in Military Constitutes A “Public Health Crisis” WASHINGTON - DoD needs to acknowledge that the current levels of substance use and misuse among military personnel and dependents constitute a “public health crisis,” a new study says. The IoM report, Substance Use Disorders in the U.S. Armed Forces, noted that about 20% of active duty personnel reported having engaged in heavy drinking in 2008 and binge drinking increased from 35% in 1998 to 47% in 2008. More
VA Bears Brunt of Costs for Beneficiaries Also in Medicare Plans PROVIDENCE, RI - An overlap of services between the VA and some Medicare managed-care plans is costly for the federal government, which is effectively double-paying for the same services. A new study estimates the cost as $3.2 billion in 2009 alone. The authors note that someveterans can legally enroll in both VHA and a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan, which are administered by private insurance companies and used by about one-fourth of all Medicare beneficiaries. More
WASHINGTON - While military medics have been hailed for their bravery and lifesaving skills on the battlefield, many are out of work once they leave the military. Nearly 100,000 Army veterans applied for unemployment in FY 2011, and nearly 3,000 of those were Army medics. A new bill in Congress would give states demonstration grants to study how to better integrate military medics into civilian jobs. More
SAN ANTONIO - Can cytokines, the signaling proteins secreted by immune system cells, offer a way to prevent development of schizophrenia in susceptible individuals or keep psychosis from occurring in veterans with the disorder? Dimitre Dimitrov, MD, staff psychiatrist at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System and assistant professor at the University of Texas Science Center in San Antonio, thinks they just might. Dimitrov and colleagues recently received a VA grant to try to identify a constellation of cytokines uniquely associated with schizophrenia. More
BALTIMORE - For many veterans with schizophrenia, deficits in social skills commonly associated with the disorder can make maintaining relationships and achieving personal goals extremely challenging. The VA’s Social Skills Training (SST) program helps these veterans acquire the skills they need to effectively engage in social interactions, set and reach goals and take critical steps on the road to recovery. More
Specialty Update on Psychiatry
Convenient Primary Care Reduces CV Risk Factors in Mentally Ill Cardiovascular disease risk factors often are comorbid with serious mental illnesses (SMI) such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder, yet these patients often don’t receive necessary care for those chronic conditions. In fact, veterans with SMI have fewer medical visits than other VA patients, primarily seeking care for mental-health conditions rather than physician conditions. That led to efforts to provide primary-care services in the mental-health setting, according to a new study that documented the effectiveness of such a system. More
Specialty Update on Endocrinology
Exercise Improves Survival Rates for Diabetics with LVH Achieving a certain level of physical fitness can improve survival rates of patients with diabetes who also have left ventricle hypertrophy (LVH), according to a new study from VA investigators. The research, presented at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston this past summer, found that diabetic patients who were not physically fit and had LVH were the most likely to die, with physically-fit patients — regardless of whether they had LVH — having a significantly lower risk of death. More
Brenda L. Mooney Editorial Director, U.S. Medicine mooney@usmedicine.com 39 York Street Lambertville, NJ 08530
