The Washington Post (9/21, Goldstein) reports that “nearly half a million children and other individuals in 30 states have been improperly dropped from Medicaid rolls, prompting federal health officials to halt in more than half the country a large portion of the massive campaign to figure out who qualifies for the safety-net health insurance.” On Thursday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services “revealed the scope of the trouble, caused by computer systems failing to determine whether individual family members qualify for Medicaid.” CMS officials “said Thursday that states are in the process of reinstating everyone who should not have been cut off from Medicaid.”

The New York Times (9/21, Weiland) reports that last month, the Biden Administration “warned states about the problem, giving them two weeks to report whether they had improperly disenrolled people.” In response to the errors, “nearly 500,000 people, many of them children, will keep Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program coverage…federal officials said on Thursday.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Healio (9/21, Schaffer) reports, “Use of any substance during pregnancy, including alcohol and cannabis but especially methamphetamines, is associated with increased risk for acute CV outcomes during delivery hospitalization, according to” the findings of “a nationwide database analysis” published online ahead of print in Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) Advances. The “analysis of more than 60 million delivery hospitalizations across the U.S…also found that the risk was greatest for deliveries with documented amphetamine/methamphetamine use, with a ninefold increased risk for acute cardiomyopathy or Heart Failure and a sevenfold increased risk for acute heart attacks (MI) and cardiac arrest.” HealthDay (9/21, Murez) also covers the study.

Related Links:

— “Any substance use during pregnancy ups risk for acute heart events during delivery,”Regina Schaffer, Healio, September 21, 2023

KFF Health News (9/21, Weinstock) reports, “Suicide ranks as either the seventh- or eighth-leading cause of death among children ages five to 11, according to the” CDC “and recent studies.” What’s more, “numbers show the rates among younger kids appear to have increased in the past decade, especially among Black males.”

Related Links:

— “As Younger Children Increasingly Die by Suicide, Better Tracking and Prevention Is Sought,” Cheryl Platzman Weinstock, KFF Health News , September 21, 2023

CNN (9/20, LaMotte) reports, “Eating greater amounts of ultraprocessed food and drinks, especially if those items are artificially sweetened, may be linked to the development of depression,” investigators concluded in a study suggesting “an association between consumption of ultra-processed foods and depression, with an about 50% higher risk for those consuming 9 portions (per day) or more (the top 20%) compared to those consuming four portions or less.”

NBC News (9/20, Sullivan) reports, “The study” examined “the eating habits and mental health status of more than 31,000 women between the ages of 42 and 62,” all of whom were participants in the Nurses’ Health Study II study. The findings were published online Sept. 20 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Artificially sweetened ultraprocessed foods linked to depression in women, study finds,”Sandee LaMotte, CNN, September 20, 2023

Healio (9/20, Rhoades) reports, “Patients prescribed buprenorphine at 24 mg for opioid use disorder were more likely to remain in treatment compared with those prescribed a 16 mg dose,” researchers concluded in the findings of a 6,499-patient study published online Sept. 18 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Higher buprenorphine dose may keep patients in treatment longer,”Andrew Rhoades, Healio, September 20, 2023

HealthDay (9/20, Collins) reports, “Nearly one in five counties across the United States lack psychiatrists or internet service, making it difficult for around 10.5 million Americans to find mental healthcare,” according to findings published online Sept. 14 in JAMA Network Open. Those “counties examined in the study were more likely to be in rural areas, have higher unemployment rates, and have populations that were more likely to be uninsured and lack a bachelor’s degree.”

Related Links:

— “Few Doctors, Spotty Internet: Finding Mental Health Care Tough for Many Americans,”Sarah D. Collins, HealthDay , September 20, 2023

mHealth Intelligence (9/19, Vaidya) reports a “study revealed fewer differences in health care utilization by race and ethnicity and preferred language when a mix of virtual and in-person care options was available to patients versus when only in-person care was available.” The study, published in JAMA Network Open, “aimed to examine rates of change in in-person and telehealth visits and between-visit interactions over time, as well as key patient characteristics associated with visits and between-visit interactions.”

Related Links:

— “Hybrid Care Could Help Curb Disparities in Healthcare Utilization,”Anuja Vaidya, mHealth Intelligence , September 19, 2023

Psychiatric News (9/19) reports, “Researchers have long known that people with serious mental illnesses (SMI) tend to die at younger ages than those who do not have these conditions – likely due to their higher risk of chronic illnesses that tend to be more severe and diagnosed later in life,” but an “article in JAMA Psychiatry examines why these patients may have been overlooked for palliative care and a few simple steps that psychiatrists can take to help connect patients to end of life care when needed.” The researchers wrote, “This population faces disparities at the patient, health care professional, and system levels, which are worsened by the prevalent stigma associated with major mental illness. The ensuing fragmentation impedes care integration and raises the likelihood of poor health outcomes.”

Related Links:

— “Palliative Care Said to Help Patients With Serious Mental Illness, Psychiatric News , September 19, 2023

Healio (9/19, Bascom) reports, “An umbrella review published” online in The BMJ and including 101 meta-analyses “provided a breakdown of the associations between cannabis and health outcomes, highlighting the uncertain potential for clinical use.” The umbrella review found that “cannabis-based medications seem to be effective for those with chronic pain, multiple sclerosis and more.” Among “the general population,” however, “cannabis worsened cognition, psychotic symptoms and psychiatric symptoms.”

Related Links:

— “Umbrella review reveals what the benefits and risks of cannabis are and for whom,”Emma Bascom, Healio, September 19, 2023

Healio (9/19, Cooper) reports, “Factors previously associated with short-term risk for new-onset bipolar disorder also were associated with significantly higher risk after more than 10 years of follow-up,” investigators concluded after tracking the “long-term association between bipolar at-risk…criteria – which includes subthreshold mania, cyclothymic features, subthreshold depression and family history of bipolar disorder (BD) – and the development of BD” in a study that included 60 participants. The findings were published online Sept. 15 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Patients at risk for bipolar disorder would benefit from long-term monitoring and support,”Justin Cooper, Healio, September 19, 2023