PRMS Blog

Most weeks there are a few interesting news items that spark an idea for the weekly posting – but this week there’s a superabundance of material in a supplement to the Journal of Adolescent Health’s July edition. The supplement focuses on the manifold aspects of bullying on the health of the bullied, the bullying and those who witness it. Societal attitudes towards bullying hav ...

Let’s face it, the practice of psychiatry is one that is often quite challenging and mitigating the risks associated with this responsibility requires both a solid risk management plan and a working knowledge of the emerging trends within your specialty.   Every day psychiatrists and other behavioral health professionals contact our risk management team to receive expert guidan ...

The title of this post is shown in quotation marks because it’s exactly how the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the U.S. House Committee on Labor and Commerce styled a hearing held on April 26, 2013. The witness statements and other material submitted to the Subcommittee can be found here. The chair of the subcommittee, Hon. Tim Murphy of the 18th District of Pe ...

Doctors in every specialty today are wrestling with a key question: What is the price of independent practice, and is the price worth it? Increasingly, their answer is “The price is too high; I’m ready to sell.” A recent article in Medical Economics (free registration required) highlighted the issue: Independent Physician: 6 steps you can take to remain independent – for now (A ...

On behalf of the PRMS employees who represented PRMS during the APA Annual Meeting, I thank all of you who made it a success. Many of you visited our hospitality suite to ask questions about your coverage and to apply for new coverage. Our risk management seminar was well attended, and our expanded use of the audience response system (ARS) by attendees was a hit. The course and ...

PRMS will be at this year’s APA Annual Meeting, as it has been for every annual meeting since 1987. We truly do look forward to this meeting all year, because we know that we will see so many of our clients, both long-term and brand-new, face-to-face. We have posted our locations and agenda on our website, but in short, you can attend one of our CME risk management seminars on ...

As Martin pointed out in his blog last week, suicide is one of the two most common events leading to litigation against psychiatrists, the other being related to psychopharmacology.  PRMS has since 1986, handled thousands of events, claims, and lawsuits involving a patient suicide or suicide attempt.  From all of those cases, there are many lessons learned, including the follow ...

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and unfortunately it’s starting on a somber note. I am not a regular reader of the Centers for Disease Control’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), but a report widely picked up by the popular press did catch my eye this week, and it’s essential reading for anyone working in behavioral healthcare (MMWR, May 3, 2013). The study a ...

Trying to predict the future is probably not the most productive use of anyone’s time, but it’s fun sometimes to think about what the world will be like in 10, or 20, or 30 years. When you speculate about the future, it’s a good idea to keep in mind Bill Gates’ comment about human predictions: “We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underest ...

There was an interesting item reported over the past few days regarding the disciplinary action taken by the Texas State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners against the license of a Texas veterinarian, Dr. Ronald Hines. Here is a link to one of many reports on this story. Before I go any further, let me lay out the standard cautions about believing only a little bit of what y ...