Modern Healthcare (7/28, Tepper, Subscription Publication) reports CMS “wants to take another crack at creating a national provider directory in an effort to replace insurance company lists.” Officials “touted the idea at a meeting with health information technology executives in June,” and in a later post on X, “CMS described its goal as a ‘dynamic, interoperable directory that connects the data CMS has with what the industry knows, so we all work from the same map.’” According to Modern Healthcare, a national provider directory would ideally “ease a major pain point for patients and reduce administrative costs for health insurance companies, providers and government health programs.”

Related Links:

— “CMS inches toward establishing national provider directory,”Nona Tepper, Modern Healthcare, July 28, 2025

HealthDay (7/28, Gotkine) reports a study found that “only 36.8 percent of adolescents diagnosed with cannabis use disorder (CUD) complete treatment.” The researchers “used data from the 2018 to 2021 Treatment Episode Data Set-Discharges, which included 40,054 adolescents diagnosed with CUD, to examine treatment outcomes and factors associated with treatment completion.” They found that “36.8 percent of adolescents completed treatment. Dropping out and transferring to another facility/program were the most common reasons for not completing treatment (28.4 and 17.0 percent, respectively). Male adolescents had a lower likelihood of completing treatment versus female adolescents.” The study was published in Pediatric Reports.

Related Links:

— “Only 36.8 Percent of Teens With Cannabis Use Disorder Complete Treatment,”
Elana Gotkine, HealthDay , July 28, 2025

Psychiatric News (7/25) reported a systemic review and meta-analysis found that “people who walked more were less likely to die of any cause or contract a number of serious health outcomes, including depression and dementia.” Investigators “identified 57 studies published between January 2014 and February 2025 involving adults who used devices to assess their daily step counts.” They observed that “compared with 2,000 steps per day, 7,000 steps per day was associated with a 22% lower risk of depressive symptoms and a 38% lower risk of dementia. In addition, the higher step count was also associated with a 47% lower risk of all-cause mortality, a 37% lower risk of cancer mortality, a 25% lower risk of cardiovascular disease incidence, and a 14% lower risk of type 2 diabetes.” Furthermore, researchers “found that even modest step counts of 4,000 steps per day were linked to better health compared with 2,000 steps per day.” The review was published in The Lancet Public Health.

Related Links:

— “Just 7,000 Steps a Day Lowers Risk of Depression, Dementia, Mortality, Psychiatric News, July 25, 2025

Multiple Sclerosis News Today (7/24, Wexler ) reports, “Multiple sclerosis (MS) may increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new analysis of genetic data.” The analysis’ “findings indicate genetic changes that influence the activity of immune T-cells may play a role in both MS and Alzheimer’s.” The findings were published in Neurodegenerative Disease Management.

Related Links:

— “Mental Health Care Use, Mortality Rates Increased With Prolonged Grief,” Marisa Wexler, Multiple Sclerosis News Today, July 24, 2025

The Washington Post (7/24, Ovalle ) reports President “Trump directed federal agencies to find ways to make it easier to forcibly hospitalize homeless people with mental illness and addiction for longer periods – an effort to fight what the administration calls ‘vagrancy’ threatening the streets of U.S. cities.” The “executive order signed Thursday pushes federal agencies to overturn state and federal legal precedent that limits how local and state governments can involuntarily commit people who pose a risk to themselves or others.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

MedPage Today (7/23, Lou ) reports, “Study after study, higher daily step counts were shown to track with better health outcomes, even well below the oft-touted target of 10,000 steps.” A “meta-analysis of studies published since 2014” found that “increasing daily step counts above 2,000 was associated with a risk reduction.” Researchers found that “there was a significant reduction in risks of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease incidence, dementia, and falls in people logging more steps; these outcomes were best around 5,000 to 7,000 steps per day, with no extra benefit beyond that range.” The findings were published in The Lancet Public Health.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

The Hill (7/23, Delandro) reports that research “suggests diets including eggs, especially the yolk, may help reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.” Investigators “followed more than 1,000 U.S. adults and found that those who consumed more than one egg weekly had a 47% reduced risk of Alzheimer’s.” During “an average follow-up of 6.7 years, 280 participants, or 27.3%, were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia.” The investigators “found that 39% of the ‘total effect of egg intake’ was linked to choline, a nutrient found in egg yolks known to support memory and brain function.” The findings were published in The Journal of Nutrition.

Related Links:

— “Eating eggs weekly may lower Alzheimer’s risk by nearly 50 percent: Study,” Taylor Delandro, The Hill , July 23, 2025

HealthDay (7/23, Solomon) reports, “Mental health hospitalizations [MHHs] are more common among adults with autism, with more than one-third of all admissions tied to mental health conditions for those with autism, according to a study.” Investigators “found that more than one-third (36 percent) of all admissions for adults with autism in 2019 were MHHs, with schizophrenia the most common reason.” Study results indicate that “among all index MHHs in adults with autism, 17 percent had a 30-day all-cause readmission.” The findings were published in Research in Autism.

Related Links:

— “Mental Health Hospitalizations Common in Adults With Autism,”
Lori Solomon, HealthDay , July 23, 2025

HealthDay (7/22, Thompson ) reports research found that “fewer than one-third of American public schools are screening students for psychological problems, years after the U.S. Surgeon General declared a mental health crisis among the nation’s youth.” Investigators found that “by late 2024, just under 31% of principals surveyed said their school conducts screening for mental health issues.” Furthermore, “about 40% said it was difficult to ensure that students receive appropriate care if kids do speak up about feelings of anxiety or depression, results show.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Few Schools Screen Students For Depression, Anxiety,”
Dennis Thompson , HealthDay , July 22, 2025

NBC News (7/22, Carroll ) reports, “Brain aging may have sped up during the pandemic, even in people who didn’t get sick from Covid, a new study suggests.” By “using brain scans from a very large database, British researchers determined that during the pandemic years of 2021 and 2022, people’s brains showed signs of aging, including shrinkage, according to the report.” Individuals “who got infected with the virus also showed deficits in certain cognitive abilities, such as processing speed and mental flexibility.” The findings were published in Nature Communications.

Psychiatric News (7/22) reports the researchers said, “Our findings provide valuable insight into how the COVID-19 pandemic affected brain health, demonstrating that the general pandemic effects alone, without infection, exerted a substantial detrimental effect on brain health, augmented by bio-social factors (age, health, and social inequalities).”

Related Links:

— “The pandemic aged our brains, whether we got Covid or not, study finds,” Linda Carroll, NBC News, July 22, 2025