General Mental Health Articles
- Providers have increasingly integrated behavioral health care into primary care to improve patient outcomes and decrease the likelihood of costly, acute health events. Federal health plans have jumped on board with integration efforts, paving the way for more collaborative care models. However, government plans have unevenly adopted value-based care, which is often associated with integrated models like collaborative care, industry insiders said at Behavioral Health Business’ VALUE event. Read more here.
- Scientists know that Black people are at a greater risk for health problems like heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's disease than white people. A growing body of research shows that racism in health care and in daily life contributes to these long-standing health disparities for Black communities. Now, some researchers are asking whether part of the explanation involves how racism, across individual interactions and systems, may physically alter the brain. Read more here.
- Untreated vision loss and high LDL cholesterol have been added as two new potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia in a report released by the Lancet Commission. These new additions join 12 other risk factors outlined by the commission, affiliated with University College London, in previous reports on dementia prevention, intervention, and care in 2017 and 2020. Read more here.
- Today, with so many of these hospitals shuttered, the number of inpatient psychiatric beds is a fraction of what it used to be. Inpatient psychiatric services do still remain, but they primarily focus on patients in acute crises, where the thought is that short-term intensive monitoring and treatment would benefit the patient. Read more here.
Youth Mental Health
- Suicide is a leading cause of death among young people in the United States, and new research suggests that the majority of young people who have died by suicide did not have a documented mental health diagnosis in their medical history. About 3 out of 5 young people who died by suicide between January 2010 and December 2021 had no previously diagnosed mental health condition, according to the study, published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open. Read more here.
- Post-traumatic stress disorder diagnoses among college students more than doubled between 2017 and 2022, rising most sharply as the COVID-19 pandemic closed campuses, according to a recent study. PTSD rose from 3.4% among college students to 7.5%. Researchers called the increase "shocking." Read more here.
- More than 60% of New Hampshire parents who’ve sought mental health care for their kids said it was difficult or impossible to access, according to one survey. That comes amid rising demand in recent years, as more young people have struggled with depression and other mental health challenges. Read more here.
The Opioid Crisis and Addiction Issues
- Dr. Bonnie Henry, British Columbia's provincial health officer, attempted to make her province even more of an outlier than it already was in its response to the unprecedented drug crisis. Recognizing that prior harm reduction interventions had failed to bend the curve of the drug crisis, she submitted a report that recommended that British Columbia "enable access to non-prescribed alternatives to unregulated drugs." Read more here.
- Rates of mental illness and substance use remained largely stable in 2023, according to federal data, underscoring the severity of the long-running U.S. mental health crisis and worst-in-the-world rates of illicit drug use. While overall rates of nicotine use also remained roughly even, the way people consumed it shifted slightly. Overall, slightly more Americans vaped nicotine, while slightly fewer smoked cigarettes. Read more here.
Telehealth Policy
- Congress is taking its time to decide whether Medicare should permanently pay for telehealth. The Bipartisan Policy Center says that’s a mistake. The think tank’s new policy report advises legislators to adopt a long-term Medicare reimbursement strategy that gives providers reason to invest in the service. Read more here.
Research
- Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been shown to be strong predictors of socioeconomic status, risky health behaviors, chronic health conditions, and adverse outcomes. However, less is known about their association with adult health care utilization and expenditures. Read more here.
Gender-Affirming Care and LGBTQ Issues
- Schools are agonizing over how to implement one of President Joe Biden’s top civil rights priorities after a tangle of court orders created a baffling patchwork just weeks before students return to campus. The regulation updates a federal anti-discrimination law to bolster protections for transgender and pregnant students. Read more here.
State Policy
- Iowa’s health department announced the boundaries of seven behavioral health districts, following a new state law aimed at making it easier for Iowans to access mental health and substance use treatment services. The law signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds in May requires the state to merge Iowa’s 13 Mental Health and Disability Service regions with its 19 Integrated Provider Networks for addiction treatment. Read more here.
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