CMS decision on DSM codes: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which administers the Medicare and Medicaid programs, has announced that it will continue to allow psychiatrists and other clinicians to use the criteria in DSM-IV to determine the appropriate codes for the mental health services that they provide to the programs' beneficiaries. The decision allays concerns by psychiatrists and other mental health professionals that CMS would mandate exclusive use of codes from the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision-Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM). Since 1980, when the American Psychiatric Association published DSM-III, the federal government has allowed clinicians to use the diagnostic manual to "cross-walk" to the ICD system.A chief concern was that the ICD-9-CM uses DSM-II definitions from 1968. CMS has posted information for practitioners on the Web at http://questions.cms.hhs.gov. Click on FAQs and search on DSM-IV.

Improved Web site of National Guideline Clearinghouse: The National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC), a public resource for evidence-based practice guidelines sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in partnership with the American Medical Association and the American Association of Health Plans, contains 1,159 detailed summaries of guidelines from more that 200 medical and psychiatric organizations, academic institutions, and government agencies. New features include enhanced summary content, such as descriptions of methods used to formulate recommendations and schemes for rating the strength of recommendations. The site now offers summaries that are downloadable to personal digital assistants. An enhanced search function permits users to pinpoint the most relevant guidelines by combining an array of search categories, including keyword; condition; treatment; guideline category; organization or type of organization; intended users; clinical specialty; methods used to assess the strength of the guidelines, analyze the evidence, and formulate the recommendations; age and sex of the target population; and date of publication. More information is available at www.guideline.gov.

Three educational booklets for Spanish-speaking patients: The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has released Spanish-language versions of three educational publications for Spanish-speaking patients who are experiencing symptoms of manic-depression, depression, or social phobia. In Una Historia Personal Obre el Trastorno Bipolar (Enfermedad Maníaco-Depresiva), a patient tells the story of how he lost control of his life because of an illness he knew little about and how he got help. The 20-page booklet includes checklists for identifying symptoms of mania and of depression, basic facts about manic-depression, advice about how to find a physician, and information on treatments and resources. The booklets on depression, Historias Personales Sobre la Depresión, and social phobia, Una Enfermedad Real: Fobia Social, have similar formats, with patients' stories told in their own words. Single copies can be ordered online and bulk orders by telephone or fax. More information is available on the NIMH Web site at http://infocenter. nimh.nih.gov/index.cfm.

AWHONN tool for detection of domestic violence: What constitutes domestic violence, and how prevalent is it? What are the signs and symptoms of abuse? What can health care providers do to help battered women? What are the implications of the current mandatory reporting laws? These are among the questions addressed in the second edition of "Universal Screening for Domestic Violence," a presentation package of materials developed by the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) to help professionals educate staff about identifying, treating, and assisting victims of domestic violence. The package is on CD-ROM and includes a slide presentation, an abuse screening tool (in English and Spanish), a danger assessment tool, and a list of resources. The package can be ordered online from AWHONN's Web site at www. awhonn.org. The cost is $30 for AWHONN members and $40 for nonmembers.