Outpatient

I'm an 84-year-old man on Social Security with original Medicare and Mutual of Omaha gap insurance. My insurance premium was raised from $262 to $363 a month, a 39% jump. After all my monthly expenses, I have just $240 left. What can I do in the event of another increase in my premiums? If you've had your current Medicare supplement plan for years, it's not surprising that you've seen your costs steadily rise, says Steve Zaleznick, senior Medicare advisor at PlanPrescriber, a Maynard, Mass.-based online provider of Medicare education and plan comparison tools.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has thrown its weight behind Laura's Law - which allows counties to create court-ordered outpatient mental health treatment for the severely ill who have cycled through hospitals or jails and refused voluntary care - saying in a resolution that such programs have been shown to "significantly reduce" homelessness, hospitalization and arrest. The resolution, authored by Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, directs the county's chief executive and legislative advocates to get behind five new state bills that would make it easier for counties to create such programs and secure "mental health treatment for those who refuse to get help on their own. " The back story: State lawmakers passed Laura's Law, patterned after New York state's Kendra's Law but which came with no funding, in 2002.

Re "Help Schizophrenics Lead Secure, Productive Lives,": July 20: As someone who has worked in the health-care field, taught health-care economics and had a family member in the Orange County mental health system, I can strongly attest to Carla Jacobs' commentary on our county's "revolving door" policy for treating patients with schizophrenia. Unless these patients continue their anti-psychotic medication, readmission is almost inevitable. The current expenditure by Orange County for inpatient mental health services is far greater in the long term than the expense needed to maintain an effective Assisted Outpatient Treatment program.

SACRAMENTO - California prison officials have opened a new psychiatric center for inmates, contending that the $24-million treatment facility is proof the state is ready to shed federal oversight of mental health care for prisoners. The new building, at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, will provide outpatient treatment for mentally ill inmates who do not require 24-hour care. "It's time for the federal courts to recognize the progress the state has made and end costly and unnecessary federal oversight," Jeffrey Beard, secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said in prepared remarks.

A Beverly Hills judge Wednesday ordered Lindsay Lohan to undergo rigorous outpatient therapy for the next three months that will require regular counseling and keep her in Los Angeles County. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Elden S. Fox said the actress will remain on supervised probation until November. During that time, he said, Lohan must remain in Los Angeles County and comply with random drug testing twice a week, participate in psychotherapy four times a week and meet with counselors five times a week.

The council reversed a Planning Commission decision and unanimously approved Dr. Jerrold Martin Sherman's proposal for an outpatient surgical facility at 1508 Arizona Ave. Sherman plans to tear down three residential buildings and construct a 14,177-square-foot, three-story building for outpatient surgery.

There is an unsung hero among Southern California's ophthalmologists, and he wants to keep it that way. He is the surgeon who blew the whistle on a computer programming error that was feeding tens of thousands of unearned dollars to doctors performing cataract surgery. He, alone among the doctors receiving the unexpected 20% overpayments, reported it to the state, returned the money and set in motion the correction of the error. Not to worry.

NMR Centers Inc. of Newport Beach said it has sold 800,000 shares of restricted common stock to Terence P. Ramsden, chairman of Glen International PLC, a London-based investment company. Ramsden obtained about 12% of NMR's shares outstanding in the $5-million deal, completed earlier this month. Ramsden also was named to a seat on NMR's board of directors.

Trepte Construction Co., San Diego, has received a $9.2-million contract to build a 68,000-square-foot spinal cord injury center at Veterans Administration Hospital in La Jolla that will be a prototype for future centers specializing in this field. The facility will have 30 beds for newly injured patients, an outpatient clinic and one apartment to help patients adjust back to a home environment. San Diego architect Donald J.

The state Supreme Court refused Wednesday to grant an emergency stay that would have kept open the doors of the Wilmington Mental Health Center, leaving Los Angeles County officials poised to complete a shutdown of the psychiatric facility. In a one-paragraph ruling, the justices denied a petition by legal aid attorneys, who claimed that the county is violating a court order by terminating services at the Wilmington clinic--one of three outpatient centers targeted to close. County officials last week halted psychiatric services at the Wilmington center and said they would transfer the clinic's more than 120 patients to other mental health facilities.

As Cedars-Sinai Medical Center prepares to shut down its inpatient and outpatient psychiatric programs, advocates and doctors said they fear that it will disrupt patients' mental health care and could lead to more people ending up homeless or in jail. The hospital "has literally been a lifeline for thousands of patients who have come to rely on the psychiatric treatment they've received here over the years," said Carole Lieberman, an attending psychiatrist at the hospital. "Where are they going to go now?"

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center will close its in-patient and outpatient psychiatry programs over the next year, a move prompted by significant shifts in the healthcare system, hospital officials said. The decision, which was announced Wednesday, was driven by hospital finances and changes to the delivery and organization ofhealthcare services nationwide. "We are undergoing a massive transformation," said Mark Gavens, the chief operating officer. "It is natural for an organization to focus on what it does well and what it will continue to need to do well to serve the community.

Outpatient surgery centers in California that perform Lap-Band operations and other procedures will face new scrutiny under a law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown. The legislation requires private accrediting firms to inspect outpatient centers at least once every three years and allows for surprise inspections to ensure the centers meet safety standards for such things as cleanliness and proper use of medication. It also requires accrediting firms to demand improvements or revoke certification if a surgery center does not meet the standards.

A Beverly Hills judge Wednesday ordered Lindsay Lohan to undergo rigorous outpatient therapy for the next three months that will require regular counseling and keep her in Los Angeles County. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Elden S. Fox said the actress will remain on supervised probation until November. During that time, he said, Lohan must remain in Los Angeles County and comply with random drug testing twice a week, participate in psychotherapy four times a week and meet with counselors five times a week.

Instead of honing his swing this off-season, Miguel Cabrera focused on getting sober. "My drinking was a problem, and I feel good without it. I feel like a new man," he said Thursday. The Detroit Tigers slugger spent three months in an outpatient treatment program for alcoholism following a much-publicized drinking binge during the final weekend of last season, a program that General Manager Dave Dombrowski said will continue into spring training and the upcoming season.

With the traditional start of the flu season upon us this weekend, 27 states are already reporting widespread activity of the pandemic H1N1 influenza virus, with the rest reporting more limited activity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Outpatient visits for influenza-like illnesses were above normal for every region of the country except New England. Between Aug. 30 and Sept. 29, the U.S. had 16,174 hospitalizations and 1,379 deaths associated with influenza, the vast majority of them swine-flu-related.

The Times recently published a story which raised concerns regarding the use of a new facility at UCI Medical Center ("New UCI Medical Facility Sparks Debate," Feb. 16). A well-intentioned special-interest group has charged that we are attempting to divert resources away from the treatment of the mental health needs of our population. The facts make it clear that our intentions are exactly the opposite. We plan to utilize the building to continue the provision of the same broad spectrum of treatment for major mental illnesses as we have in the past.

I am a recent employee of the county of Ventura and am thoroughly familiar with the county's proposal to build an ambulatory care center--Measure X on the March 26 ballot. Ventura County is in real need of a central outpatient clinic building at the county hospital to house clinics that are spread out in rented offices in the city of Ventura. The clinics were forced out of their county offices when the buildings were condemned due to asbestos problems. The ambulatory care center will save the taxpayers half a million dollars a year in rental costs.

Six months after the mother of Kanye West died following liposuction and breast implant surgery, the reverberations of the tragedy continue to be felt. Now lawmakers and physicians are urging greater protections for patients undergoing cosmetic surgery. Across the country, such surgeries are increasingly done outside hospital settings in outpatient clinics, where a doctor can avoid the rigorous review that, say, a heart surgeon would face at a traditional hospital.