Reuters (4/24, Seaman) reports that when admitting a psychiatric patient from the emergency department (ED) to a hospital bed, physicians may spend approximately 40 minutes getting approval from health insurers, according to a research letter published online April 23 in the Annals of Emergency Medicine. Sometimes that approval process took upwards of an hour. The authors of the research letter came to these conclusions after following 53 patients with psychiatric problems who arrived at their ED during a three-month period last year.

On its website, Fox News (4/23, Woerner) reports, “Unlike other doctors, psychiatrists are required to seek permission from a patient’s insurance company, before admitting anyone to the hospital from an emergency” department. After making a determination that a patient needs to be put into the hospital, psychiatrists must phone health insurers to make the case for hospitalization. “They present initially to an administrator and then to a social worker. If the case is denied by the social worker, the psychiatrists must present their case to a doctor.” Only patients on Medicare do not need such approval. The authors of the research letter would like to see psychiatrists have the ability to admit patients based on clinical expertise.

Related Links:

— “Psychiatric insurance approval takes time in ERs, “Andrew M. Seaman, Reuters, April 23, 2013.

In print and in its “Well” blog, the New York Times (4/22, D4, Brody) reports, “Cancer is responsible for more widowed fathers than any other cause of death, Dr. [Donald Lee] Rosenstein and Dr. [Justin Michael] Yopp noted in an article in the journal Psycho-Oncology. An estimated 100,000 children are living with widowed fathers in the United States, and the trauma of losing a mother at a young age can seriously disrupt a family’s structure and the children’s development, sometimes with lifelong consequences, they wrote.” The study authors concluded, “There is a pressing need to understand the experiences of these widowed fathers and to develop supportive interventions for them and their children.” The article explained how psychiatrist Rosenstein and psychologist Yopp helped establish a support group for widowed fathers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill which has met with resounding success.

Related Links:

— “A Lifeline for Widowed Fathers, “Jane E. Brody, The New York Times, April 22, 2013.

In its “Well” blog, the New York Times (4/22, D1, Ellin) profiles Marvin Tolkin, 86, who “is one of many seniors who are seeking psychological help late in life.” While most never sought mental health aid when they were young, “as people are living longer, and the stigma of psychological counseling has diminished, they are recognizing that their golden years might be easier if they alleviate the problems they have been carrying around for decades.” According to Judith Repetur, a clinical social worker in New York who works almost exclusively with older patients, “It’s never too late, if someone has never dealt with issues…A combination of stresses late in life can bring up problems that weren’t resolved.”

Related Links:

— “How Therapy Can Help in the Golden Years, “Abby Ellin, The New York Times, April 22, 2013.

The Los Angeles Times (4/23, Healy) “Booster Shots” blog reports that yesterday, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) acknowledged it does not know if “there is a screening test that could, with some confidence, detect those at risk of committing suicide, and” whether widespread use thereof would “prevent some of the 37,000 suicides that occur annually in the United States.” The USPSTF “set out to determine whether it would be helpful for primary care physicians to routinely screen all patients for suicide, not just those known to be at high risk – such as those with past suicide attempts, those with depression and other mental illnesses, LGBT youth and those with access to guns.” After reviewing existing research on the subject, the task force issued its draft report which indicated that not enough evidence exists to make a recommendation for universal screening for suicide risk.

CQ (4/23, Subscription Publication) reports, “The task force gives suicide risk screening an ‘I’ rating, which means that under the health care law, any costs associated with such testing would not be paid for under the measure’s preventive services provisions. This recommendation is the same one that the task force issued in 2004 when it last reviewed the evidence for this issue.” In addition, the USPSTF “found that effective treatment for suicide risk was ‘in very high-risk population who were not discovered through screening, such as those who present to an emergency department because of a suicide attempt.'” Reuters (4/23, Seaman) also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “Could screening prevent suicides? Not enough evidence, says panel, ” Melissa Healy, The Los Angeles Times, April 22, 2013.

NPR (4/22, Silverman) reports how, for a “growing number of young people on the autism spectrum” are finding “a natural landing place” in the tech industry. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “one in 88 children in the U.S. has an autism spectrum disorder.” However, experts claim that “people on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum often have an amazing ability to hyper-focus on a task” and “may really flourish at” an “engineering type task or computer design, where their interaction with people is somewhat limited.”

Related Links:

— “Young Adults With Autism Can Thrive In High-Tech Jobs, “Lauren Silverman, NPR, April 22, 2013.

The Ocala (FL) Star-Banner (4/21, Thompson) reported that an Ocala, Florida “mental health treatment facility” called The Centers is currently seeking a Federal “grant to help fund a move toward telepsychiatry, wherein patients could be treated via computer within their own homes or in other locations.” Charles R. Powell, executive director of The Centers, “said the agency wants to apply for an infrastructure grant from the US Department of Agriculture. The funding would help pay for new computers and related equipment.”

Related Links:

— “The Centers seeks to connect with patients virtually, “Bill Thompson, The Ocala, April 20, 2013.

HealthDay (4/20, Preidt) reported that a review “published April 18 in the journal Science outlines the underlying causes of learning disabilities and the best way to tailor individual teaching and learning for affected children.” In addition, the study “discusses how best to train teachers, school psychologists and doctors who deal with these children.” Investigators “said that specific learning disabilities (SLDs) are the result of abnormal brain development caused by complicated genetic and environmental factors,” leading “to conditions as dyslexia, dyscalculia, AD/HD, autism spectrum disorder, and specific language impairment.”

Related Links:

— “Kids’ Learning Disabilities May Have Multiple Causes, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, April 19, 2013.

Bloomberg News (4/20, Wayne) reported, “The Obama administration, trying to advance new gun-control measures amid resistance from Congress, proposed a rule making it easier to submit names of the mentally ill to a US database of people prohibited from buying guns.” Bloomberg News adds, “State authorities that decide whether people should be committed or found insane would gain an exemption to federal health privacy rules under the new regulation, allowing them to report those names to the federal database.” In a statement, Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said, “In order to protect our children and communities, we must ensure that information on potentially dangerous individuals who are prohibited from possessing firearms is available to the background check system.”

Related Links:

— “Mentally Ill May Be Banned More Easily From Guns by U.S., “Alex Wayne, Bloomberg News, April 19, 2013.

The AP (4/19) reports that “several new initiatives” are “transforming the nation’s suicide-prevention community as more survivors find the courage to speak out and more experts make efforts to learn from them.” According to the AP, “There’s a new survivors task force, an array of blogs, some riveting YouTube clips, all with the common goal of stripping away anonymity, stigma and shame.” Jane Pearson, a suicide prevention expert with the National Institute of Mental Health, stated: “There are still clear consequences for talking about your mental health history. It’s getting better, but there are still challenges as to what that means for your life.”

Related Links:

— “More survivors of suicide attempts speak out, “David Crary , Associated Press, April 19, 2013.

In continuing coverage, the AP (4/19, Neergaard) reports that “psychological aftershocks are the often invisible wounds of disaster. Most affected are the injured and those closest to the blasts. But even people with no physical injuries and…who weren’t nearby can feel the emotional impact for weeks as they struggle to regain a sense of security.” Only a few people may go on to develop post-traumatic stress disorder, however, and those who are at higher “risk for lingering psychological effects are people who’ve previously been exposed to trauma, whether it’s on the battlefield or from a car crash or a hurricane.”

Related Links:

— “Psychological aftershocks are invisible wounds of disaster but most people recover with time, “Associated Press, The Washington Post, April 19, 2013.