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.