Because an increasing number of patients pay for care out-of-pocket, marketing has become an essential part of any practice, said David Sprague, chief operating officer at Physicians’ Ally, Inc, Denver. In a presentation at the US Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress in Las Vegas, he provided tips to help physicians market their practice and avoid common pitfalls.

Four simple steps can help you reduce missed patient appointments and boost profitability. So said Mark Rosenberg, MD, PhD, president of Behavioral Health Management, PC, in St Louis, who spoke at the US Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress in Las Vegas. Not only do missed appointments result in lost revenue, said Rosenberg, but also they “interrupt the flow of patient care and impede clinic productivity.”

Marc E. Agronin, MD, medical director for mental health and clinical research in the Miami Jewish Health Systems, and associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Florida, discusses therapeutic strategies for older patients.

Laurence J. Kinsella, MD, FAAN, professor of neurology at St. Louis University and chief in the division of neurology and neurophysiology at Forest Park Hospital, St. Louis, discusses serotonin syndrome and P450 drug interactions.

Many patients with HIV/AIDS experience numerous challenges beyond those posed by the physical effects of their disease—including poverty, mental illness, drug addiction, social alienation, racism, and homophobia. Counseling patients who face these issues can be difficult, but a careful risk assessment along with patient education can improve a patient’s ability to cope and lead to better outcomes, said Marshall Forstein, MD, associate professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Mass, in a presentation at the US Psychiatric Congress in Las Vegas.

It is usually traumatic when parents learn that their child has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Be clear about the diagnosis and let families know that treatment will begin as soon as possible, said Doris Greenberg, MD, associate clinical professor of pediatrics at Mercer University School of Medicine, Savannah, Ga. In her presentation at the US Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress in Las Vegas, Dr Greenberg discussed strategies for talking to the families of children with ASDs. “Don’t talk around the diagnosis—identify the elephant in the room and get on with it,” she said.

Of the screening tools available to help identify early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which is best? In a presentation at the U.S. Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress in Las Vegas, Kevin Gray, MD, director of the Geriatric Neuropsychiatry Clinic, Veterans Affairs North Texas Health Care System, Dallas, gave a withering critique of the widely used Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and instead recommended simple and quickly administered tests that he says are more sensitive and specific.

Although rapid-cycling bipolar disorder has been linked to the use of antidepressants, these treatments may still have a role in the management of patients with bipolar depression, said Stephen V. Sobel, MD, clinical instructor at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, in a presentation at the U.S. Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress in Las Vegas.

A few simple steps can enhance your assessment of a patient’s suicide risk—and thereby reduce your own risk for liability if the patient does commit suicide. Phillip J. Resnick, MD, professor of psychiatry and director of forensic psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, described those measures in a lecture today at the US Psychiatric Congress in Las Vegas.

The editors of Psychiatric Times interview Vladimir Maletic, MD, PA, clinical professor of neuropsychiatry and behavioral science at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia; founding member of the Integrative Neurobiology Educational Alliance; and member of the U.S. Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress 2009 advisory board.