This Week
September 05 , 2007

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• GOVERNOR SIGNS LAW ALLOWING LCSWS TO PARTICIPATE IN MEDICAID
• NEW YORK TIMES QUOTES PAVULURI ON PEDIATRIC BIPOLAR DISORDER
• RAZZANO GIVES INVITED TALKS AT FEDERAL ICDR, PRESENTS AT APA
• RUBIN RECEIVES GRANT TO STUDY ESTROGEN’S EFFECTS ON COGNITION IN SCHIZOPHRENIA
• SRIPADA RETIRES, WILL PRACTICE PART TIME
• JULY FACULTY MEETING MINUTES AVAILABLE ON DEPT. WEB SITE
• Policies & Procedures

  Blagojevich Signs New Law Allowing LCSWs to Participate in Medicaid
  Gov. Blagojevich last week signed into law a bill that will allow LCSWs to participate in Medicaid as enrolled providers and will eventually allow them to be reimbursed for professional services in all settings. The new act does not mean that LCSWs must participate in Medicaid, but they may now choose to do so. For the past seven years, the Illinois Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers lobbied for the bill. The Illinois Hospital Association (IHA), which carries sway with the legislature, initially opposed the bill, fearing that community mental health clinics would have to compete with private clinicians for patients. In meetings about nine months ago, Mike Naylor, M.D., addressed the IHA’s concerns and urged the organization to reconsider. The bill eventually won the support of the IHA, and the state legislature.

  New York Times Quotes Pavuluri on Pediatric Bipolar Diagnoses
  Mani Pavuluri, M.D., Ph.D., is quoted in yesterday’s edition of The New York Times on bipolar disorder diagnosis in children. The article is available at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/03/health/03cnd-psych.html?hp

  Razzano Gives Invited Talk at Federal ICDR, Presents at APA
  Lisa Razzano, Ph.D., gave an invited presentation on behalf of the Center for Mental Health Services and Research Policy at the federal Interagency Committee on Disability Research (ICDR), regarding evidence-based practices in mental health and the mental health services needs for returning veterans:

  • Razzano, L.A. & Cook, J.A. Invited Paper, "Evidence-Based Disability Research Recommendations." Annual Stakeholder Meeting, Interagency Committee on Disability Research (ICDR), Washington, DC, 2007.
  
  At the recent annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in San Francisco, Dr. Razzano gave several presentations related to her funded work:
  • Hamilton, M.M. & Razzano, L.A. (2007, August). “Effects of different sources of social support on antiretroviral adherence.” Poster, Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA.
  • Razzano, L.A. (2007, August). “Evidence-based practices in mental health services for incarcerated individuals.” Symposium Presentation (“HIV Prevention, Empowerment & Community Integration: Addressing Health Disparities in Incarcerated Women” - D.D. Salina, Ph.D. Chair), Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA.
  • Razzano, L.A. & Hamilton, M.M. (2007, August). “Longitudinal employment patterns among people with HIV/AIDS.” Poster, Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA.

  Rubin Receives Grant to Study Estrogen’s Effects on Cognition in Schizophrenia
  Leah Rubin recently was awarded a F31 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) for her project entitled, “Effects of Estrogen on Cognition in Schizophrenia.” The grant will support her predoctoral training and dissertation project for the next two years.

  Sripada Retires, Will Practice Part Time
  Bhaskar Sripada, M.D., last week retired from service in the Department of Psychiatry. He began his career here in 1994. Dr. Sripada intends to work part-time with homeless mothers and children in homeless shelters. He also plans to open a part-time private practice in Glencoe, and will be available for clinical supervision and consultation. Retirement. Patrick Tolan, Ph.D., and Mike Naylor, M.D., presented Dr. Sripada with a plaque, and thanked him for his service.

  July Faculty Meeting Minutes Available on Department Web Site
  Minutes of the July Faculty meeting are on the dept web site at the following link: http://www.psych.uic.edu/meeting.htm

  Policies & Procedures
  Over the next few months we will be providing and implementing Department Electronic, Network, Computing Policies and Procedures. All Department Policies and Procedures will be reviewed and endorsed by the Information Technology Steering Committee (ITSC) prior to presenting to the Department.
  
  Because of our relationship to UIC and College of Medicine there are some Policies we automatically inherit. Two such policies:

  1. Information Security Policy - The University of Illinois
  2. University Guidelines on the Sale, Donation, or Transfer of Computer Hard Drives and Other Magnetic Media
  
  These policies can be found on our web site using the following link: https://intranet.psych.uic.edu/is/ you will be required to “log-in” to access these policies.
  
  We will make both of these policies (along with others forth coming) a part of new employee orientation, but to those of us already in the system we are asking that each of you please take the time to read these policies.
  
  If you have any questions concerning any policy or procedure please let me know, thank you.

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