PRMS Blog

Today is National Depression Screening Day. This is the 25th anniversary of this yearly event, created by Screening for Mental Health (SMH), an organization founded by Dr. Douglas Jacobs. The organization hopes to create a world where mental health is viewed and treated with the same gravity as physical health, and depression screening helps make that vision a reality. Facts a ...

As the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Suicide Prevention Awareness Month marches on in September, we would like to shine the spotlight on a very important and heartbreaking issue – suicide among those who have served our country. Military service members and veterans face many stressors reintegrating into the world they left behind. They may struggle with money, fin ...

On the ABC television show “What Would You Do?” host John Quiñones and his crew report on split-second and sometimes unexpected decisions made by people who think no one is watching when things get tough. Do they freeze or ignore what’s going on around them? How often do they really do the right thing? A mental health education program for high school students in Kentucky has ...

In the “Malpractice Rx” column of the current issue of Current Psychiatry, Drs. Mossman and Reynolds address the risks of using e-mail to communicate with patients. As they mention, getting the patient’s consent is the key to managing the risk. We recommend that this consent be documented and there is a link in the article to access our model informed consent to e-mail templat ...

The South Asian Mental Health Initiative and Network (SAMHIN) – a New Jersey-based group working to address the mental health needs of the region’s burgeoning South Asian community and to combat the stigma of mental illness particularly prevalent among this population – is just a year old, but its initiatives have made it a recent recipient of PRMS support. Founded by a practi ...

Since my original post on physicians’ online marketing, I’ve received requests for more information on the topic. So here are my expanded thoughts – Websites Websites can be a great way to market your practice online.In terms of professional liability, the greater the interaction on a physician’s website, the greater the risk.A simple, non-interactive practice information webs ...

A study on adolescents’ self-inflicted injuries reported in the July 2015 issue ofPediatrics has many findings relevant to those treating adolescents. Introductory statistics in the article included the following: • Suicide is one of the leading causes of death for adolescents • Self-harm, while rare below the age of 12, increases rapidly during adolescence, particularly in fem ...

Two news items caught my attention today – both involved radiologists and HIPAA violations: 1. MORE DUMPED RECORDS: According to the report, a customer noticed 65 boxes of medical records, including social security numbers, in a dumpster at a storage unit facility. The records belonged to a radiology group that had disbanded, and ultimately failed to pay for continued storage ...

As an “Army brat,” holidays showing appreciation for our military – active, former, and deceased – are of particular significance to me. This Memorial Day weekend is more than the official start to summer – it’s a time to honor all who bravely fought or are fighting for our freedom. This certainly includes those whose lives have been lost, whether by the hands of others, or by ...

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. While it is great to recognize and educate everyone on the issue of mental health, I want to take a moment to recognize and thank the psychiatrists and other mental health professionals for all they do under what can be very tough circumstances. My comments are focused on psychiatrists because my team of risk managers has the most interact ...