Psychiatric News (5/10) reports, “The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) have issued a temporary rule that extends telemedicine flexibilities adopted during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE).” This rule is set to “go into effect…May 11 when the COVID-19 PHE expires, and extends the full set of telemedicine flexibilities adopted during the COVID-19 PHE for six months (through November 11),” with “additional flexibilities” extending “to established patients until November 11, 2024.”

Related Links:

— “DEA, SAMHSA Release Temporary Rule Extending Telemedicine Flexibilities, Psychiatric News , May 10, 2023

The New York Times (5/10, Hoffman) reports, “Despite the continuing rise in opioid overdose deaths, one of the most effective treatments for opioid addiction is still drastically underprescribed in the United States, especially for Black patients, according to a large new study.”

MedPage Today (5/10, DePeau-Wilson) reports, “Black and Hispanic patients with a disability had a tougher time getting medication to treat opioid use disorder (OUD) despite frequent contact with healthcare” professionals, investigators concluded after analyzing “Medicare claims data.” The study revealed that “within 180 days of an index OUD-related event, Black patients received a prescription for buprenorphine 12.7% of the time, Hispanic patients 18.7% of the time, and white patients 23.3% of the time.” Likewise, “naloxone receipt followed a similar pattern, occurring after 14.4%, 20.7%, and 22.9% of index events, respectively, the authors reported” in the findings of a 23,370-beneficiary study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Healio (5/9, VanDewater) reports, “Rates of suicidal behavior and ideation increased among high school girls,” investigators from the CDC concluded after analyzing “data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey…collected in 2019 and 2021.” The study revealed that “the percentage of girls reporting past-year suicidal ideation increased from 24.1% in 2019 to 30% in 2021,” with “increases in the percentage of girls who made a suicide plan (19.9% vs. 23.6%) and attempted suicide (11% vs. 13.3%).” In contrast, “the percentage of boys reporting suicidal ideation stayed about the same (13.3% vs. 14.3%), as did the percentage of boys who planned a suicide (11.3% vs. 11.6%), attempted suicide (both 6.6%) and had a suicide attempt requiring medical attention (both 1.7%).” The findings were published online in an April 28 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Supplement.

Related Links:

— “Suicidality increased in certain high schoolers from 2019 to 2021 “Kalie VanDewater, Healio , May 9, 2023

The Washington Post (5/9, Ovalle, Beard) reports that the DEA “will allow doctors to keep using telemedicine to prescribe certain medications for anxiety, pain and opioid addiction, extending for six months emergency flexibilities established during the coronavirus pandemic.” As such, “the ability to prescribe controlled medications will run through Nov. 11, 2023…and that deadline will be longer still if doctors have already established a telemedicine relationship with patients.” In the latter “circumstance, physicians can keep prescribing the medications virtually through Nov. 11, 2024.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

According to The Hill (5/8, Scully), Congressional legislators “are calling for extensive data on maternal mental health programs to examine their effectiveness, following an alarming spike in the country’s maternal mortality rate.” In their May 8 letter (PDF) “to the Health Resources and Services Administration led by Maternity Care Caucus co-chairs Reps. Young Kim (R-Calif.) and Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), lawmakers requested data on the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline one year after the program started.” Additionally, they “requested data on the Screening and Treatment for Maternal Depression and Related Behavioral Health Disorders…program overseen by the Health Resources & Services Administration,” calling for “qualitative and quantitative data on the two programs.”

Related Links:

— “Lawmakers ask for data on maternal mental health program’s effectiveness “Rachel Scully, The Hill , May 8, 2023

The AP (5/8, Johnson) reports, “For the first time, the U.S. government will pay for a large study measuring whether overdoses can be prevented by so-called safe injection sites, places where people can use heroin and other illegal drugs and be revived if they” overdose. This “grant provides more than $5 million over four years to New York University and Brown University to study two sites in New York City and one opening next year in Providence, Rhode Island.” Investigators now “hope to enroll 1,000 adult drug users to study the sites’ effects on overdoses, to estimate their costs and to gauge potential savings for the health care and criminal justice systems.”

Related Links:

— “US backs study of safe injection sites, overdose prevention “Carla K. Johnson , AP , May 8, 2023

CNN (5/8, Holcombe) reports, “Adults in their 20s and 30s with mental disorders have a higher chance of having a heart attack or stroke, according to a new study.” Investigators looked at data on “more than 6.5 million people,” approximately 13% of whom “had some type of mental disorder.” The researchers found that individuals “younger than 40 with a mental disorder were 58% more likely to have a heart attack and 42% more likely to have a stroke than those with no disorder.” The findings were published online in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

Related Links:

— “A mental illness in your 20s and 30s could mean a greater chance of heart attack and stroke “Madeline Holcombe, CNN, May 8, 2023

Psychiatric News (5/5) reported, “More than a quarter of people who experience substance-induced psychosis are diagnosed with schizophrenia within six years,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data from 3,187 patients in the Norwegian Patient Registry who were between the ages of 18 and 79 and had a diagnosis of substance-induced psychosis from 2010 to 2015.” The findings were published online May 3 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Psychosis Induced by Substance Use Linked to Schizophrenia, Psychiatric News, May 5, 2023

Kaiser Health News (5/7, Hilzenrath) reports, “Marijuana and other products containing THC, the plant’s main psychoactive ingredient, have grown more potent and more dangerous as legalization has made them more widely available,” with some products currently having “more than 90% THC.” These higher concentrations of THC “pose greater hazards, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse,” which said on its website that “the risks of physical dependence and addiction increase with exposure to high concentrations of THC, and higher doses of THC are more likely to produce anxiety, agitation, paranoia, and psychosis.” Psychiatrist Smita Das, MD, “chair of an American Psychiatric Association council on addiction,” said that “cannabis use disorder ‘can be devastating.’” Dr. “Das said she has seen lives upended by cannabis – very successful people who have lost families and jobs.”

Related Links:

— “Legal pot is more potent than ever. And it’s still largely unregulated, putting consumers at risk. “David Hilzenrath, KFF Health News, May 7, 2023

Healio (5/5, Welsh) said, “Women who developed mood or anxiety disorders associated with pregnancy and childbirth had a specific and unique plasma protein signature regulating various neuronal signaling and proinflammatory pathways, researchers reported.” The findings were published online in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Related Links:

— “Women with perinatal mood, anxiety disorders have specific altered proteins “Erin T. Welsh, Healio , May 5, 2023