Fierce Healthcare (9/24, Muoio ) reports that on Tuesday, HHS “unveiled $74.5 million of new grant awards to support substance use disorder, maternal and hospital care services in rural areas.” Most “of the money – $53.7 million over four years by way of HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration – will be doled out to 18 organizations in 14 states working to improve access to treatment and recovery services for substance use disorder and opioid use disorder, the administration said.” That funding “will build upon or create new access points for treatment in collaboration with the local behavioral health workforce and social services.”

Related Links:

— “Biden admin awards $75M to address rural care pain points,”Dave Muoio, Fierce Healthcare, September 24, 2024

The Hill (9/24, O’Connell-Domenech ) reports, “Just 44 percent of jails offer incarcerated people with opioid use disorder [OUD] medications like methadone, buprenorphine or naltrexone to treat addiction, according to a new analysis of 1,028 jails from the National Institute of Drug Abuse.” The “researchers also note that jails that do offer medication for opioid use disorder mostly offer those drugs to people who are pregnant or who are already receiving the drugs at the time of their arrest.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

HealthDay (9/24, Mundell ) reports researchers found that “even when methadone, naltrexone or buprenorphine were available, only 12.8% of jails made them easily available to anyone with an opioid use disorder.” Study results indicate that “the reason most often cited by jails as to why they weren’t offering the meds to all who needed them was ‘lack of adequate licensed staff’ – about half blamed lack of access on staffing issues.”

Psychiatric News (9/24) reports, “The analysis also showed that smaller jails, jails in areas of greater social vulnerability, and jails that did not have either direct employees or contracted vendors managing health care were less likely to provide OUD medications.”

Related Links:

— “Fewer than half of US jails provide medications for opioid use disorder,”Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech , The Hill, September 24, 2024

HealthDay (9/23, Thompson ) reports, “One in three former NFL players believe they have football-relatedbrain damage that’s doing untold harm to their lives, a new study finds.” Regrettably, their concerns may be adversely affecting “their mental health on top of whatever risks they face from head injuries sustained during their careers, researchers report.” HealthDay adds that “about one-third of nearly 2,000 retired NFL players believe they have chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain condition linked to repeated head trauma, researchers reported.” The research was published in JAMA Neurology.

Psychiatric News (9/23) reports that “chronic traumatic encephalopathy neuropathological changes (CTE-NC) can only be determined at autopsy, so there is no way to tell whether living former football players who perceive themselves as having CTE actually have biological changes indicative of the condition.” The researchers said, “Football players, lay people, clinicians, and popular media outlets often refer to CTE as a singular entity occurring in living and deceased individuals to represent CTE-NC and/or TES [traumatic encephalopathy syndrome – a proposed clinical diagnosis characterized by cognitive impairment and problems controlling behavior] interchangeably.” They added, “CTE is often presented as manifesting in living people as cognitive impairment, mood disorders, and suicidality, even though depression and suicidality are not part of the TES core clinical features.”

Related Links:

— “Many Former NFL Players Believe They Have CTE, Raising Suicide Risk,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, September 23, 2024

The Los Angeles Times (9/20, Luna ) reported California “took a major step in its fight to protect children from the ills of social media with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature on a bill to limit the ability of companies to provide ‘addictive feeds’ to minors.” The legislation, which becomes effective January 1, 2027, bars “internet service and applications from providing ‘addictive feeds,’ defined as media curated based on information gathered on or provided by the user, to minors without parental consent. SB 976 also bans companies from sending notifications to users identified as minors between midnight and 6 a.m. or during the school day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. unless parents give the OK.”

Also reporting were the AP (9/21) and the New York Times (9/21, Hubler , Qin ).

Related Links:

— “Newsom signs California bill to limit ‘addictive’ social media feeds for kids,”Taryn Luna , The Los Angeles Times, September 20, 2024

The AP (9/20, Johnson) reported, “The first big update to U.S. methadone regulations in 20 years is poised to expand access to the life-saving drug starting next month, but experts say the addiction treatment changes could fall flat if state governments and methadone clinics fail to act.” In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, “emergency rules allowed patients to take methadone unsupervised at home.” Not only did overdose fatalities and drug diversions not increase, but individuals remained in treatment longer. The AP subsequently said, “With evidence mounting, the U.S. government made the changes permanent early this year.” Clinics must abide by the new rules by October 2 except if “they’re in a state with more restrictive regulations.”

Related Links:

— “US will let more people take methadone at home,” Carla K. Johnson, AP, September 20, 2024

CNN (9/19, McPhillips ) reports, “Federal data shows that overdose deaths in the United States are the lowest they’ve been in three years, and a new analysis suggests that some downward trends indicate ‘unprecedented’ progress in the fight against the drug epidemic.” Deaths from drug overdoses “soared during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, jumping 30% between 2019 and 2020 and another 16% by the end of 2021, according to data from” the CDC. However, “the latest provisional data shows that overdose deaths made a sharp turn at the end of last year and have been trending down for months.” In spite of the recent lower numbers, “experts warn that it’s not time to be complacent.”

ABC News (9/19, Benadjaoud, Goodman) reports that five months ago, “the latest month with data, the estimated number of deaths in the past 12 months was 101,168, according to the CDC.” The article adds, “The last month with figures that low was in May of 2021, with 100,997 deaths.”

Related Links:

— “US overdoses have fallen sharply in recent months, a hopeful shift in trends,”Deidre McPhillips, CNN, September 19, 2024

Healio (9/18, Buzby) reports, “Higher levels of life satisfaction and well-being may portend lower rates of CVD due to the association between inflammatory markers and CV risk factors observed among individuals reporting lower well-being, researchers” found. Meanwhile, “lower well-being and life satisfaction was associated with higher BMI, drinking, sedentary behavior and less sleep compared with higher well-being.” The findings were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Related Links:

— “High life satisfaction linked to less inflammation, risk factors for heart disease,”Scott Buzby , Healio, September 18, 2024

Psychiatric News (9/18) reports, “Adding menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) to antipsychotic medication can lower the risk of relapse or any psychiatric hospitalization in women between 40 and 62 years of age who have schizophrenia, according to” researchers who “analyzed data from 3,488 women.” Researchers wrote in AJP in Advance, “To maximize benefits and minimize risks of MHT, treatment should be individualized using the best available evidence, with periodic reevaluation of continuation.”

Related Links:

— “Hormone Therapy May Reduce Relapse Risk for Menopausal Age Women With Schizophrenia, Psychiatric News, September 18, 2024

Healio (9/17, Rhoades) says a survey of “1,020 physicians, 353 residents and 350 medical students” reveals “most physicians and residents report feelings of burnout, while stigma about receiving mental health care remains prevalent.” The findings “showed that six in 10 physicians often have feelings of burnout, up from four in 10 physicians in 2018. Similarly, six in 10 residents also reported feelings of burnout.” The Physicians Foundation published the findings (PDF) on its website.

Related Links:

— “Burnout, withdrawal remain ‘alarmingly high’ among physicians and residents,”Andrew (Drew) Rhoades, Healio, September 17, 2024

The New York Times (9/17, Isaac, Singer) reports Instagram on Tuesday said it would bolster its privacy protections for children. The social media firm “said the accounts of users younger than 18 will be made private by default in the coming weeks.” The Meta-owned company “also plans to stop notifications to minors from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. to promote sleep. In addition, Instagram will introduce more supervision tools for adults, including a feature that allows parents to see the accounts that their teenager recently messaged.”

The AP (9/17, Ortutay ) reports Instagram “says it will require” users “to verify their ages in more instances.” The company “also said it is building technology that proactively finds teen accounts that pretend to be grownups and automatically places them into the restricted teen accounts.”

According to ABC News (9/17, Kindelan ), “With the new accounts, teens will have the power to choose the age-appropriate topics they want to see more of on Instagram, like sports or art, and parents will also be able to see the topics their teens choose.”

Related Links:

— “The New York Times (requires login and subscription)