Modern Healthcare (3/1, Dickson, Subscription Publication) reports that CMS data indicate Medicaid and CHIP enrollees “are not getting the behavioral and medical care they need.” While the Affordable Care Act “requires the HHS secretary to establish healthcare quality measurement programs for adults and children to obtain standardized data across state Medicaid and CHIP programs,” the ACA “established it as a voluntary reporting program,” so the data are not indicative of all states.

Related Links:

— “Medicaid and CHIP participants not getting behavioral health, chronic-care services,” Virgil Dickson , Modern Healthcare, March 1, 2016.

HealthDay (3/1, Reinberg) reports, “Elderly Americans whose arteries are clear of calcium buildup appear less likely than others to suffer from heart disease or dementia,” research published online Feb. 29 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology suggests. After examining “data on more than 500 people who took part in a cardiovascular health-cognition (heart health and mental health) study” who were followed “from 1998 through 2013,” investigators found “those without calcium buildup in their arteries developed dementia later than those with high levels of calcium.”

Related Links:

— “Healthier Arteries May Lower Dementia Risk in Old Age,” Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, March 1, 2016.

USA Today (2/29, O’Donnell) reports that on Monday, Federal health officials unveiled a deal which “should make digital health records easier for consumers and regulators to access and address safety issues linked with the data.” Almost all companies which “provide digital health records and 16 of the largest hospitals and health systems agreed to stop the practice of ‘information blocking,’ to adopt a universal language and to improve the systems so patients can easily monitor their health information.”

Commenting on the deal, HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell stated, “It’s great to have an electronic record, but if that record can’t be easily accessed by doctors and patients because of clunky technology, then we aren’t consistently seeing the benefit.” She added that some 75 percent of physicians and almost all hospitals now use “EHRs, which means ‘there is now a digital care footprint for almost everyone in this country.’”

Related Links:

— “Health companies will improve digital records, but safety concerns linger,” Jayne O’Donnell, USA Today, February 29, 2016.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (3/1, Johnson) “Pulse” blog reports that a study published in the Journals of Gerontology: Biological Sciences & Medical Sciences found that “higher education, positive wellbeing, overall good health and higher physical functioning all contribute to women maintaining good memory health after age 80.”

Since 1991, researchers followed over 2,200 older women and found that “factors that influence cognitive function in women over 80 include: age, income, education level, race, diabetes and depressive symptoms.” The study “is part of the Women’s Health Initiative and WHI Memory Study launched by the National Institutes of Health.”

Related Links:

— “MCW researcher finds predictors of good cognitive health in older women,” Mark Johnson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, February 29, 2016.

On the front of its Business Day section, the New York Times (2/26, B1, Lieber, Subscription Publication) reported on the side effect of a recommendation “that all pregnant women and new mothers be screened for depression,” namely that women found to have postpartum depression may end up paying higher rates for “life and disability insurance” or have difficulty even getting such insurance. The concern among insurers is “the odds of you killing yourself,” or “the likelihood you will not be able to work,” depending on what type of insurance is involved.

Related Links:

— “An Insurance Penalty From Postpartum Depression,” Ron Lieber, New York Times, February 26, 2016.

HealthDay (2/28, Preidt) reported, “Half the teens seen” at the Hasbro Children’s Hospital emergency department in Providence, RI, “reported being victims of violence or cyberbullying, and a quarter reported symptoms akin to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),” the findings of a 350-patient study published online Dec. 18 in the journal General Hospital Psychiatry suggest. The study revealed a “strong” association “between PTSD symptoms and being subjected to cyberbullying or violence, exposure to community violence, and” substance use.

Related Links:

— “Cyberbullying, Violence Linked to PTSD in Teens,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, February 26, 2016.

In continuing coverage, the New York Times (2/25, Rabin) “Well” blog reports that a study published online Feb. 18 in the American Journal of Public Health suggests that the rate of overdose deaths from benzodiazepines quadrupled between 1996 and 2013, while the number of benzodiazepines prescribed in the US tripled over that time period.

Related Links:

— “More Overdose Deaths from Anxiety Drugs,” Roni Caryn Rabin, New York Times, February 25, 2016.

HealthDay (2/25, Preidt) reports, “The many behavioral problems experienced by children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders require early attention,” a review published online Feb. 23 in Pediatrics suggests. After “analyzing published studies,” researchers “identified three main types of behavioral problems among” such children, including “‘internalizing’ behaviors such as anxiety, withdrawal and depression; ‘externalizing’ behaviors such as aggression and delinquency; and other issues such as problems with social skills, attention and thought processing.” Because such behaviors “impair social interactions, academic performance and mental health,” researchers called for “strategies for early intervention.”

Related Links:

— “Study Details Dire Consequences of Fetal Alcohol Disorders,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, February 25, 2016.

The Washington Post (2/25, Hicks, Wiggins) reports that on Thursday, hundreds of people advocating “for mental health and substance abuse treatment rallied in Annapolis…for something Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) is pushing to tame: automatic spending increases.” The advocates “gathered outside the State House to support legislation that would tie the state’s behavioral-health funding to the rate of inflation for medical costs.” The bill would mandate that spending “be increased by nearly $17 million during the first year of implementation, with additional hikes during subsequent years.”

Related Links:

— “Hundreds attend Md. rally for mental-health, drug-treatment funding,” Josh Hicks and Ovetta Wiggins, Washington Post, February 25, 2016.

STAT (2/25, Samuel) reports that often individuals “choose, deliberately or unconsciously, romantic partners similar to themselves.” Now, according to the findings of a study published online Feb. 24 in JAMA Psychiatry, “that extends to people with mental disorders, including schizophrenia and autism.”

Researchers arrived at this conclusion after analyzing “the records of 700,000 individuals who had been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, agoraphobia, social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anorexia, or substance abuse,” then assessing “how often these diagnoses correlated with that person’s spouse or partner having either the same psychiatric condition or a different psychiatric condition.”

Related Links:

— “In marriage, those with mental disorders seek out similar partners,” Leah Samuel, STAT, February 25, 2016.