CQ (1/25, Attias, Subscription Publication) reports members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday held what they said was their first meeting on mental healthcare since 2007. There, lawmakers referenced the Newtown school shooting and also addressed questions about mental healthcare overall and their own priorities. For example, Chairman Tom Harkin “said ‘the critical investments’ need to be made to provide access to treatment for those with mental illness so they can lead healthy lives.” On this topic, Thomas Insel of the National Institute of Mental Health said sequestration cuts “would prevent certain studies from being carried out, which could include scaling up a project focused on the predictors for early psychosis.” While Democrats pushed for the release of a mental health parity rule, which SAMHSA director Pamela S. Hyde said was in the works, Insel noted that those “who receive treatment are 15 times less likely to commit a severely violent act than those who are not treated.”

CQ (1/24, Attias, Subscription Publication) says leaders in both houses of Congress, spurred by the Newtown school shooting, “appear focused on reviewing the current [mental health] system while speaking in broad terms about what issues should be discussed.” For example, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee “is holding a hearing Thursday – its first of the new Congress – focused on mental health, and a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee is also expected to hear testimony on the topic.” Also, Julio C. Abreu at Mental Health America said US Sen. Al Franken will introduce legislation to increase access to mental healthcare in schools. The group also seeks a bill “to enhance community mental health centers by setting eligibility criteria and extending coverage under Medicaid.”

USA Today (1/24, Kennedy) reports that a new study released Wednesday by the Federal Institute of Medicine found that veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars may be suffering from chronic multisymptom illness, formerly known as Gulf War illness. Paul Rieckhoff, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said this “may be the first time that the symptoms suffered by veterans of the 1991 Gulf War have been linked to veterans of the current wars, which started in 2001 and 2003.” The researchers “investigated treatments for Gulf War illness, including any existing research, to see what worked for veterans.” They found that veterans who suffer from chronic multisymptom illness have “symptoms in at least two of six categories: fatigue, mood and cognition issues, musculoskeletal problems, gastrointestinal problems, respiratory difficulties and neurologic issues that last for at least six months.”

Related Links:

— “Report: New vets showing Gulf War illness symptoms, “Kelly Kennedy, USA Today, January 23, 2013.

The Washington Post (1/23, Khazan) reports on an “increasingly common” problem for psychiatric patients nationwide, where mental health patients are “boarded” in hospital emergency departments “in part because of cutbacks in inpatient hospital beds.” The Post explains, “As states trimmed their budgets in the economic downturn, resources for mental health patients were among the casualties.” The piece notes, “For many patients suffering from psychiatric crises, this translates to longer waits in emergency departments, where they receive no treatment for days – and sometimes weeks – while social workers try to chase down open spots in psychiatric wards, doctors said.”

Related Links:

— “Psychiatric patients wait in ERs for days and weeks as inpatient beds are scaled back, “Olga Khazan, The Washington Post, January 22, 2013.

HealthDay (1/23, Preidt) reports that “U.S. military personnel who were the victims of sexual or physical assault as adults are at increased risk for suicidal thoughts or actions, according to a new study” published Jan. 18 in the journal Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior. Meanwhile, college students “were more likely to think about or commit suicide if they were sexually assaulted as children or adults.” Investigators came to these conclusions after having “273 active-duty U.S. Air Force personnel with an average age of about 26 and 309 undergraduate college students with an average age of about 20 complete surveys anonymously.”

Related Links:

— “Physical, Sexual Assault May Raise Soldiers’ Suicide Risk, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, January 22, 2013.

The Los Angeles Times (1/22, Morin) reports on a recommendation published online Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, which advised that “women of childbearing age should undergo screening for domestic violence and other forms of abuse while visiting their doctor or clinic.” The recommendation “marks a significant change from 2004 when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force found insufficient evidence to support screenings for so-called intimate partner violence, or IPV.” According to the panel, “if abuse is confirmed, physicians should provide patients with, or refer them to, intervention services.”

Bloomberg News (1/22, Ostrow) quotes David Grossman, a member of the task force and senior investigator at the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle, who said, “We hope the clinicians get the message that screening for intimate partner violence works, particularly for women of childbearing age. As far as screening for men and screening for the elderly, we would say that we just don’t know about the effectiveness of that. We’re basically saying clinicians need to use their judgment.”

Related Links:

— “Doctors urged to screen women for domestic abuse, “Monte Morin, Los Angeles Times, January 21, 2013.

CQ (1/19, Norman, Subscription Publication) reported that “Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Friday that a delayed final rule on equal insurance coverage for mental health services will be issued this year, and she stressed that officials are working to ensure that the regulation is integrated with the health care law.” She also told the crowd, at a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, “that 65 million adults will have mental health coverage once the overhaul law goes fully into effect in 2014,” and that “health and substance abuse coverage is required in” the essential health benefits mandated by the law. Of the long wait for the rules, Sebelius said “I think the timing is actually going to be very helpful,” adding “that interim final rules have been out since February 2010 and have offered some general guidance.” She continued, promising more specifics soon, “Definitely this year. We are in the process of finalizing them now. It will be done.”

CQ (1/18, Subscription Publication) reports that late Thursday, HHS issued “what they say is the largest expansion of privacy and security protections for patient information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act [HIPAA].” According to an HHS statement, the final omnibus rule “provides individuals new rights to their health information, and strengthens the government’s ability to enforce the law.” Among the regulations included in the rule are “increased penalties for noncompliance based on the level of negligence,” and the right for patients to request “a copy of their electronic medical record in an electronic form.”

The Hill (1/18, Viebeck) “Healthwatch” blog says the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will host a January 24 hearing, in which the heads of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the National Institutes of Mental Health will discuss “how to improve treatment for the mentally ill in light of recent mass shootings.” Although President Obama’s plan to reduce gun violence calls for rules implementing mental health parity and Federal research on gun violence, advocates “say more work is needed to strengthen the U.S. mental healthcare system, which has faced cuts in recent years.” Committee staff said the hearing “will provide senators an opportunity to examine the most pressing problems in our mental health system, including a need to focus on prevention and early intervention.”

Related Links:

— “HELP panel to hold hearing on mental health,”Elise Viebeck, The Hill, January 17, 2013.

HealthDay (1/18, Doheny) reports that a recent study found that obese children are more likely to experience “immediate problems, including asthma, learning disabilities and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder,” as well as heart disease as they grow into adulthood. According to study author Dr. Neal Halfon, director of the Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities at UCLA, “Childhood obesity not only has long-term impact in terms of future heart disease, diabetes and other problems that we have been hearing so many things. It also has an immediate impact on the health, mental health and development of children.” The CDC notes that “Childhood obesity has tripled in the past 30 years in the United States,” and now 12.5 million children are considered obese.

The Huffington Post (1/17, Pearson) reports, “In the new study, published in the journal Academic Pediatrics, researchers analyzed data from more than 43,000 children between the ages of 10 and 17 collected in 30-minute phone interviews as part of the 2007 National Survey of Children’s Health. Researchers found ties between obesity and 19 indicators of overall health, psychological and social functioning and chronic conditions.” Dr. Seema Kumar, an assistant professor of pediatrics with the Mayo clinic who researches prevention and treatment of childhood obesity, said the findings confirm a “dose-response” effect, meaning that the “more overweight the child, the greater his or her risk of health problems.”

Related Links:

— “Obese Kids May Face Immediate Health Woes, Study Finds, “Kathleen Doheny, HealthDay, Janueary 17, 2013.