Healio (1/8, Herpen) reports, “The rate of alcohol-related hospitalizations in the U.S. stabilized between 2016 and 2022, but mortality rates, length of stay and total health care costs all increased, according to data.” Researchers found that “the mean length of hospital stay for alcohol-related issues increased from 5.6 to 6.2days.” Study results indicate that “hospitalization costs increased even after accounting for inflation and amounted to $32.6 billion in 2022.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

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— “Ancillary concerns related to alcohol-related hospitalizations increased from 2016 to 2022,”Robert Herpen , Healio, January 8, 2026

Psychiatric News (1/8) reports, “APA has filed a lawsuit along with a class of patients and families against health insurer EmblemHealth…over the company’s alleged use of a ‘ghost network’ of mental health” professionals. APA CEO and Medical Director Marketa M. Wills, MD, MBA, said, “Ghost networks’ impacts are widespread and harmful. … Not only does this practice hurt patients and families who are seeking care, it also harms clinicians who are dedicating their career to helping these individuals.” APA President Theresa M. Miskimen Rivera, MD, said, “When insurance companies use ghost networks, they are not only reaping profits by misleading consumers, they are also hurting people who are in need of mental health care.”

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— “No Ghosting: APA Files Lawsuit Against EmblemHealth, Psychiatric News , January 8, 2026

HealthDay (1/7, Gotkine) reports, “Dried blood collection derived from capillary blood shows potential for Alzheimer disease (AD) biomarker testing, according to a study.” Researchers “examined the potential of dried plasma spot (DPS) and dried blood spot (DBS) analysis, derived from capillary blood, for detecting AD biomarkers, including phosphorylated tau at amino acid 217 (p-tau217), glial fibrillary acidic protein, and neurofilament light.” The investigators “identified strong correlations between DPS p-tau217 and venous plasma p-tau217. There was a progressive increase in DPS p-tau217 with increasing disease severity, with good accuracy for predicting cerebrospinal fluid biomarker positivity.” By “using paired venous plasma samples, glial fibrillary acidic protein and neurofilament light were successfully detected, with strong correlations between DBS and DPS, respectively.” The findings were published in Nature Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Dried Blood Collection Shows Potential for Alzheimer Disease Biomarker Testing,”Elana Gotkine, HealthDay , January 7, 2026

MedPage Today (1/7, Firth) reports, “Yoga alongside standard buprenorphine therapy hastened opioid withdrawal recovery and improved autonomic regulation compared with buprenorphine alone, an early-stage randomized trial in India showed.” Researchers found that “among 59 participants with opioid use disorder (OUD) in the intent-to-treat analysis, those in the yoga group recovered from withdrawal faster than those in the control group…with a median stabilization time of 5 days versus 9 days, respectively.” Participants in the yoga group “had better heart rate variability improvements, with large effects on low frequency power, high frequency power, and low frequency/high frequency ratio.” The findings were published in JAMA Psychiatry.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HCP Live (1/6, Derman) reports a study found that “changing therapists or therapy approach does not offer additional benefit for adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) who do not respond to initial psychotherapy,” although “further psychotherapy after initial non-response produces modest reductions in depressive symptoms.” The study “showed a modest but statistically significant reduction in depressive symptoms after continuing psychotherapy. However, investigators observed no significant differences in symptom reduction, response, or remission rates between the 3 treatment strategies.” Investigators concluded, “Switching therapist or both therapist and method does not appear to offer additional benefit, but also does not hinder outcomes.” The study was published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

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— “Switching Therapists for Psychotherapy Offers No Advantage in MDD,”Chelsie Derman , HCP Live, January 6, 2026

Psychiatric News (1/6) reports a meta-analysis of 62 studies suggests that “children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are more likely to receive negative parenting – such as lack of warmth or responsiveness to developmental needs, and greater hostility, abuse, or family conflict – than children without the disorder.” Researchers observed that “children with ADHD showed significantly lower levels of positive parenting and higher levels of negative parenting than controls. There were group differences across all 14 parenting factors, but the strongest effects were found for authoritative parenting, warmth, abuse, family conflict, and hostility.” The analysis was published in the Journal of the Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Significant Differences Found in Parenting of Children With ADHD, Psychiatric News, January 6, 2026

The Washington Post (1/6, Johnson) reports a new study shows that “the stimulants Ritalin and Adderall…don’t act on the brain’s attention circuitry as had long been assumed.” Rather, the ADHD medications “primarily target the brain’s reward and wakefulness centers.” The research team “compared images of children who took prescription stimulants on the day of their scan with those of children who did not take stimulants. By studying the connections that allow different regions of the brain to communicate with one another, the scientists discovered that stimulants were promoting increased activity in the wakefulness and reward regions, but not in the attention ones.” The study “supports an increasing body of research that has pointed toward lack of proper sleep as a contributor to ADHD.” The study was published in Cell.

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

HIT Consultant (1/5, Pennic) reports, “The AMA is urging Congress to pass permanent authorization of Medicare telehealth services before the current waiver expires on January 30, 2026.” According to HIT Consultant, “This advocacy follows a ‘tumultuous’ 2025 in which a 43-day government shutdown caused a 24% national drop in fee-for-service telemedicine visits, demonstrating the extreme sensitivity of patient access to legislative lapses.” In a recent statement, AMA President Bobby Mukkamala, MD, said, “Since the COVID-19 public health emergency, Congress has repeatedly extended telehealth flexibilities for Medicare patients-often at the last moment-creating uncertainty for millions of patients and their physicians.” Dr. Mukkamala added, “As the current waiver deadline approaches, Congress must finally act decisively to prevent a disruptive and abrupt halt to the expanded telehealth services that have improved care continuity, chronic disease management, and access for rural and underserved communities.”

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— “AMA’s Strategic Push for Permanent Medicare Telehealth Reform,”Fred Pennic , HIT Consultant, January 5, 2026

Psychiatric News (1/5) reports a study found that “young people living in one of four states with flavoring bans for e-cigarettes were only half as likely as peers in other states without such bans to start vaping.” The research team “analyzed responses to the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study from four states that implemented sales bans for all flavored e-cigarettes – Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York – and compared them to 36 states without bans.” They observed that “among young adults (ages 18 to 24), e-cigarette flavor bans were associated with a more than 50% decrease in starting vaping from the pre-ban rate (6.05 percentage point decrease in initiation). However, no significant change was observed among adolescents (ages 12 to 17) or adults age ≥25 years.” Furthermore, they noted “flavor bans didn’t reduce initiation among disadvantaged subpopulations.” The study was published in JAMA Network Open.

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— “States Banning Flavored E-Cigarettes Reduced Initiation by Young Adults, Psychiatric News , January 5, 2026

CNN (1/5, Alaimo) reports a study found that American 13- to 18-year-olds “spend an average of 70 minutes of their school days on their phones.” Prior research “shows that’s merely one slice of the 8 ½ hours teens spend daily on screen-based entertainment.” According to the study, “the teens spent most of their phone time during the school day on social media apps such as TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat,” and they “spent an average of nearly 15 minutes of each school day on gaming apps and almost 15 minutes on video apps such as YouTube.” More schools are enacting policies to restrict phone use, but “the study suggested teens are finding ways to evade the rules.” Notably, the “study only tracked Android users, so it’s possible iPhone users have different phone use habits.” The study was discussed in a JAMA research letter.

Related Links:

— “Kids are spending a lot of their school days on their phones,”Kara Alaimo, CNN, January 5, 2026