The Washington Post (1/23, Khazan) reports on an “increasingly common” problem for psychiatric patients nationwide, where mental health patients are “boarded” in hospital emergency departments “in part because of cutbacks in inpatient hospital beds.” The Post explains, “As states trimmed their budgets in the economic downturn, resources for mental health patients were among the casualties.” The piece notes, “For many patients suffering from psychiatric crises, this translates to longer waits in emergency departments, where they receive no treatment for days – and sometimes weeks – while social workers try to chase down open spots in psychiatric wards, doctors said.”

Related Links:

— “Psychiatric patients wait in ERs for days and weeks as inpatient beds are scaled back, “Olga Khazan, The Washington Post, January 22, 2013.

HealthDay (1/23, Preidt) reports that “U.S. military personnel who were the victims of sexual or physical assault as adults are at increased risk for suicidal thoughts or actions, according to a new study” published Jan. 18 in the journal Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior. Meanwhile, college students “were more likely to think about or commit suicide if they were sexually assaulted as children or adults.” Investigators came to these conclusions after having “273 active-duty U.S. Air Force personnel with an average age of about 26 and 309 undergraduate college students with an average age of about 20 complete surveys anonymously.”

Related Links:

— “Physical, Sexual Assault May Raise Soldiers’ Suicide Risk, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, January 22, 2013.

The Los Angeles Times (1/22, Morin) reports on a recommendation published online Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, which advised that “women of childbearing age should undergo screening for domestic violence and other forms of abuse while visiting their doctor or clinic.” The recommendation “marks a significant change from 2004 when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force found insufficient evidence to support screenings for so-called intimate partner violence, or IPV.” According to the panel, “if abuse is confirmed, physicians should provide patients with, or refer them to, intervention services.”

Bloomberg News (1/22, Ostrow) quotes David Grossman, a member of the task force and senior investigator at the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle, who said, “We hope the clinicians get the message that screening for intimate partner violence works, particularly for women of childbearing age. As far as screening for men and screening for the elderly, we would say that we just don’t know about the effectiveness of that. We’re basically saying clinicians need to use their judgment.”

Related Links:

— “Doctors urged to screen women for domestic abuse, “Monte Morin, Los Angeles Times, January 21, 2013.

CQ (1/19, Norman, Subscription Publication) reported that “Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Friday that a delayed final rule on equal insurance coverage for mental health services will be issued this year, and she stressed that officials are working to ensure that the regulation is integrated with the health care law.” She also told the crowd, at a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, “that 65 million adults will have mental health coverage once the overhaul law goes fully into effect in 2014,” and that “health and substance abuse coverage is required in” the essential health benefits mandated by the law. Of the long wait for the rules, Sebelius said “I think the timing is actually going to be very helpful,” adding “that interim final rules have been out since February 2010 and have offered some general guidance.” She continued, promising more specifics soon, “Definitely this year. We are in the process of finalizing them now. It will be done.”

CQ (1/18, Subscription Publication) reports that late Thursday, HHS issued “what they say is the largest expansion of privacy and security protections for patient information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act [HIPAA].” According to an HHS statement, the final omnibus rule “provides individuals new rights to their health information, and strengthens the government’s ability to enforce the law.” Among the regulations included in the rule are “increased penalties for noncompliance based on the level of negligence,” and the right for patients to request “a copy of their electronic medical record in an electronic form.”

The Hill (1/18, Viebeck) “Healthwatch” blog says the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will host a January 24 hearing, in which the heads of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the National Institutes of Mental Health will discuss “how to improve treatment for the mentally ill in light of recent mass shootings.” Although President Obama’s plan to reduce gun violence calls for rules implementing mental health parity and Federal research on gun violence, advocates “say more work is needed to strengthen the U.S. mental healthcare system, which has faced cuts in recent years.” Committee staff said the hearing “will provide senators an opportunity to examine the most pressing problems in our mental health system, including a need to focus on prevention and early intervention.”

Related Links:

— “HELP panel to hold hearing on mental health,”Elise Viebeck, The Hill, January 17, 2013.

HealthDay (1/18, Doheny) reports that a recent study found that obese children are more likely to experience “immediate problems, including asthma, learning disabilities and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder,” as well as heart disease as they grow into adulthood. According to study author Dr. Neal Halfon, director of the Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities at UCLA, “Childhood obesity not only has long-term impact in terms of future heart disease, diabetes and other problems that we have been hearing so many things. It also has an immediate impact on the health, mental health and development of children.” The CDC notes that “Childhood obesity has tripled in the past 30 years in the United States,” and now 12.5 million children are considered obese.

The Huffington Post (1/17, Pearson) reports, “In the new study, published in the journal Academic Pediatrics, researchers analyzed data from more than 43,000 children between the ages of 10 and 17 collected in 30-minute phone interviews as part of the 2007 National Survey of Children’s Health. Researchers found ties between obesity and 19 indicators of overall health, psychological and social functioning and chronic conditions.” Dr. Seema Kumar, an assistant professor of pediatrics with the Mayo clinic who researches prevention and treatment of childhood obesity, said the findings confirm a “dose-response” effect, meaning that the “more overweight the child, the greater his or her risk of health problems.”

Related Links:

— “Obese Kids May Face Immediate Health Woes, Study Finds, “Kathleen Doheny, HealthDay, Janueary 17, 2013.

Washington Times (1/17, Dinan) reports President Obama “is using the national debate over gun violence to push for further action on his health care law, including insisting on the kind of mental health coverage states must provide under their Medicaid programs.” President Obama plans to take 23 executive actions, including the finalization of regulations “clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges,” and the commitment “to finalizing mental-health parity regulations.”

Politico (1/17, Cheney) says President Obama noted “ways that Obamacare will broaden access to mental health care – and tried to stamp out what he called the misperception that a narrow provision of the 2010 health law had made it illegal for doctors to talk to their patients about gun safety.” The health components of his gun control agenda “were immediately embraced by many prominent groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Public Health Association. Notably, Obama outlined a $150 million proposal to hire thousands of new mental health professionals and social workers, provide teachers and school officials with training to identify symptoms of mental illness and shore up services for at-risk youths.”

Bloomberg News (1/17, Flinn) reports President Obama “called for a national dialogue and greater resources for mental health care today as part of his package of legislative proposals and executive actions aimed at curbing gun violence.” Bloomberg quotes American Psychiatric Association President Dilip Jeste as saying, “We are heartened that the administration plans to finalize rules governing mental health parity. Such action will best ensure that Americans get the full range of mental-health services we believe they are intended to receive under federal law.”

APA Statement Praises Obama Proposals. In a statement, American Psychiatric Association President Dilip V. Jeste, MD, said, “On behalf of the leadership of the American Psychiatric Association and myself, I applaud the proposals set forth by President Barack Obama today aimed at reducing gun violence and preventing future horrific events such as the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut last month. In particular, several proposals address the need to improve access to quality mental health care.” Jeste continued, “We are heartened that the Administration plans to finalize rules governing mental health parity under the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, the Affordable Care Act, and Medicaid.” The statement added, “We strongly urge the Administration to close loopholes involving so-called ‘non-quantitative treatment limits’ and to ensure that health plans deliver a full scope of mental health services in order to comply with the law.” Additionally, Jeste added, “We are glad that the President has clarified that doctors are not prohibited from asking their patients about guns in their homes. The APA has consistently advocated for such a position.” Jeste adds that the “APA intends to play an active role during Congressional discussions about the President’s proposed policies, particularly as they impact access to psychiatric treatment.”

Related Links:

— “Obama using gun issue to advance health law, ” Stephen Dinan, The Washington Times, January 16, 2013.

Medscape (1/16, Brauser) reports that “individuals who successfully quit smoking may experience a marked reduction in anxiety, whereas failure to achieve abstinence may lead to a long-term increase in anxiety, new research suggests.” The study, which was published in the January issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry and included nearly 500 adult smokers who attended smoking cessation clinics in England, “showed that those who relapsed 6 months after treatment had significantly higher anxiety scores than those who remained abstinent.” Moreover, the study found that “the smokers who had a comorbid psychiatric disorder and who relapsed had the highest increases in anxiety scores from baseline, whereas the comorbid group who continued to stay abstinent had more decreases in scores.”

The New York Times(1/16, Carey, Hartocollis, Subscription Publication) reports on its front-page about gun control legislation proposed in Washington, DC and Albany, noting one “fundamental problem with looking for ‘warning signs’ is that it is more art than science,” given that people with serious mental disorders account for only about 4% of all violent crimes. The Times continues, “The sort of young, troubled males who seem to psychiatrists most likely to commit school shootings – identified because they have made credible threats – often do not qualify for any diagnosis, experts said. They might have elements of paranoia, of deep resentment, or of narcissism, a grandiose self-regard, that are noticeable but do not add up to any specific ‘disorder’ according to strict criteria.”

Related Links:

— “Warning Signs of Violent Acts Often Unclear, “Benedict Carey, The New York Times, January 15, 2013.