Category Archives: In The News

Number Of Patients With Dementia Left Stranded In Hospitals Rising

The AP (11/17, Jojola) reported an ongoing investigation is tracking a “growing health care epidemic where hundreds of people” with dementia and similar conditions “are abandoned every year at metro-area hospitals,” a problem which “is costing hospitals and in some cases, taxpayers, millions of dollars a year.” Many such “at-risk adults…end up languishing in hospitals because they have no family to take care of them or a facility willing to take them in due to a lack of space, finances, or appropriate scope of care.” According to one survey of hospitals in the Denver area, “on a single day in September 113 at-risk adults were stuck in the system, beyond medical necessity,” and about 30 percent had mental health issues such as dementia.

Related Links:

— “People without caregivers end up stranded in hospitals, “Jeremy Jojola, AP, November 17, 2018.

Number Of Deaths Attributable To Alcohol Increased 35 Percent From 2007 to 2017

USA Today (11/16, O’Donnell) reported, “From 2007 to 2017, the number of deaths attributable to alcohol increased 35 percent,” research indicated. What’s more, “deaths among women rose 67 percent,” whereas they rise “29 percent” among men. USA Today went on to summarize a number of studies indicating “increases for acute and chronic alcohol use.”

Newsweek (11/17, Wynne) reported, “Women are more susceptible to alcohol-related risks because they typically weigh less than men, and can feel the effects of alcohol faster, according to the National Institute on Alcohol and Abuse and Alcoholism.”

Related Links:

— “Alcohol is killing more people, and younger. The biggest increases are among women, “Jayne O’Donnell, USA Today, November 16, 2018.

More Than Half Of Young Adults Identifying As LGBT Experienced Efforts To Change Their Sexual Orientation During Adolescence, Small Study Finds

HealthDay (11/15, Salamon) reports that in a “first-of-its-kind study, which surveyed white and Latino young adults identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT),” researchers found that “more than half of them experienced efforts to change their sexual orientation during adolescence.” The findings of the 245-young adult study were published online Nov. 7 in the Journal of Homosexuality.

Related Links:

— “Gay ‘Conversion Therapy’ Often Begins at Home, With Devastating Consequences, ” Maureen Salamon, HealthDay, November 15, 2018.

Previous Homelessness May Be Independent Risk Factor For Suicide Attempts Among US Veterans, Research Suggests.

MedPage Today (11/15, Dotinga) reports, “Previous homelessness appears to be an independent risk factor for suicide attempts among U.S. veterans,” researchers concluded. In their “analysis of over 3,000 veterans, the link between lifetime homelessness and suicide attempts remained after adjusting for demographics and mental health,” investigators found. The findings were presented at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting.

Related Links:

— “MedPage, (requires login and subscription), November 15, 2018.

Workers With Highest Suicide Rates Have Construction, Mining, And Drilling Jobs, CDC Finds In Amended Study

The AP (11/15) reported that “health officials” with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “say the workers with the highest suicide rates have construction, mining and drilling jobs.” The findings, which were published Nov. 16 in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, corrected “an earlier study that mistakenly said farmers, lumberjacks and fishermen killed themselves most often.” In arriving at these conclusions, investigators examined data on “22,000 people who died of suicide in 2012 and 2015, and what jobs they held.”

The NBC News (11/15, Fox) website reports that across the entire population, suicide rates are rising, the report revealed, with men being more likely than women to commit suicide.

Related Links:

— “Corrected study: Building, mining have high suicide rates, AP, November 15, 2018.

Drawings Used To Help Kids Process Their Trauma

TIME (11/14, Bajekal) reports that “the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has worked with tens of thousands of children in struggling, often war-torn nations around the world who are suffering from…toxic stress,” which is “a relentless cycle of trauma, violence and instability, coupled with a lack of adequate care at home.” According to TIME, “in some cases, the IRC has used drawing to help children open up or as a way to process their trauma.” The article features drawings “from IRC projects in Cambodia during the genocide, in Sierra Leone and Uganda in the early-2000s and in Jordan just last year.” These drawings depict “what it’s like to endure displacement, violence and separation, through the eyes of the children themselves.”

Related Links:

— “How Traumatized Children See the World, According to Their Drawings, ” Naina Bajekal, TIME, November 14, 2018.

About 35 Percent Of People Found Criminally Insane In Oregon And Then Released From Supervised Psychiatric Treatment Are Charged With New Crimes Within Three Years Of Release

In a greater than 5,300-word article, ProPublica (11/14, Fraser, Muldowney, Sandoval, Mierjeski), in partnership with the Malheur Enterprise, conducted “a comprehensive new analysis” in which they found that “about 35 percent of people found criminally insane in Oregon and then let out of supervised psychiatric treatment were charged with new crimes within three years of being freed by state officials.” The analysis revealed that “Oregon releases people found not guilty by reason of insanity from supervision and treatment more quickly than nearly every other state in the nation.” What’s more, “the speed at which the state releases the criminally insane from custody is driven by both Oregon’s unique-in-the-nation law and state officials’ expansive interpretation of applicable federal court rulings.”

Related Links:

— “Oregon Board Says Those Found Criminally Insane Rarely Commit New Crimes. The Numbers Say Otherwise, “Jayme Fraser, , November 14, 2018.

Teenagers Who Lose A Family Member Or Friend To Murder May Have An Increased Risk For Suicide, Research Suggests

HealthDay (11/13, Preidt) reports that teenagers “who lose a family member or friend to murder” appear to have “an increased risk for suicide,” researchers concluded after analyzing the results of “a 2014 survey of just over 1,600 teens, aged 14 to 19, in Allegheny County,” Pennsylvania. The findings are set for presentation at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting.

Related Links:

— “Murder of Family, Friends Takes Highest Toll on Black Teens, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, November 13, 2018.

Despite Increased Need, Mental Healthcare Remains Severely Underfunded

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (11/13, Schmid) reports that despite steadily rising rates of suicide, severe depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other mental illnesses across the US, mental healthcare remains “severely underfunded.” For example, “government reimbursements for mental and behavioral health services are 19 percent to 22 percent below payments for conventional medical or surgical care, according to the Seattle-based Milliman Inc. research group,” thereby making “it a struggle for” healthcare professionals “to justify offering those services even as the same funding imbalance also puts downward pressure on salaries for mental health practitioners,” including psychiatrists. In Wisconsin, 48 of 72 counties “lack even one practicing child psychiatrist, according to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.”

Related Links:

— “As epidemic of U.S. mental illness worsens, so does the funding gap to provide care, “John Schmid, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, November 13, 2018.

HHS Secretary: States Can Apply For Waiver Allowing Medicaid Payments For Inpatient Mental Health Treatment

The AP (11/13, Alonso-Zaldivar) reports that on Tuesday HHS Secretary Azar in a speech to state Medicaid directors announced that states will be allowed “to provide more inpatient treatment for people with serious mental illness by tapping Medicaid.” He “said states will now be able to seek waivers” from a Federal law that has previously blocked Medicaid payments for “mental health treatment facilities with more than 16 beds, to prevent ‘warehousing’ of the mentally ill at the expense of federal taxpayers.” Azar said, “We have the worst of both worlds: limited access to inpatient treatment and limited access to other options.” He added, “Given the history, it is the responsibility of state and federal governments together, alongside communities and families, to right this wrong. More treatment options are needed, and that includes more inpatient and residential options that can help stabilize Americans with serious mental illness.”

The Hill (11/13, Weixel) reports that in his Tuesday speech, Azar also said, “Different forms of treatment work for different patients, but the decades-old restriction on Medicaid reimbursement for inpatient treatment at institutions for mental diseases, or IMDs, has been a significant barrier.” He highlighted “that inpatient treatment is just one part of ‘a complete continuum of care,’ and participating states will be expected to take action to improve community-based mental health care as well.” He added, “There are so many stories of Americans with serious mental illness, and their families, that end in tragic outcomes because treatment options are not available or not paid for. I urge everyone involved in state Medicaid programs here today to consider applying for the kind of waiver I’ve just outlined.”

Fierce Healthcare (11/13, Meltzer) reports that, commenting more broadly on mental health treatment options, Azar said, “We can support both inpatient and outpatient investments at the same time. Both tools are necessary and both are too hard to access today.”

Modern Healthcare (11/13, Subscription Publication) reports that under current policy, CMS “reimburses IMD stays up to 15 days for Medicaid enrollees in managed care Medicaid,” but the new waivers “will pay for more treatment at IMDs and apply to all Medicaid enrollees, not just those overseen by private plans.” Under the program, states will need “to prove their plans are budget-neutral for the federal government.”

Health Exec (11/13) reports that so far, 17 states have received these Section 1115 waivers, giving them “authority from CMS to pursue similar demonstration projects related to substance use disorders.”

Healthcare Finance News (11/13) and Congressional Quarterly (11/13, Subscription Publication) also cover the story.

Related Links:

— “More leeway for states to expand inpatient mental health, “Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar , AP, November 13, 2018.