The Washington Post (10/29) reports, “For decades, Medicare has covered only mental health services provided by psychiatrists, psychologists, licensed clinical social workers and psychiatric nurses.” However, “with rising demand and many people willing to pay privately for care, 45 percent of psychiatrists and 54 percent of psychologists don’t participate in Medicare.” In response, “beginning in January, Medicare for the first time will allow marriage and family therapists and mental health counselors to provide services.” This group “of more than 400,000 professionals makes up more than 40 percent of the licensed mental health workforce and is especially critical in rural areas.” Advocates additionally “note the importance of expanded Medicare coverage for telehealth, including mental health care,” that has become more widely available due to expanded coverage during the pandemic. The American Psychiatric Association’s Council on Healthcare Systems and Financing Chair Robert Trestman, PhD, MD, “called on lawmakers and regulators to maintain those expansions and continue to reimburse mental health telehealth visits at the same rate as in-person visits, another pandemic innovation.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

HCP Live (10/27, Derman) reported, “Treatment rates for depression, anxiety, ADHD, and behavior disorders among children and adolescents are low—and rates differ by age, income level, and region, according to a new international study.” Investigators came to these conclusions after analyzing data from “40 studies, published between 1988 – 2021, that conducted diagnostic interviews.” The research was published in JAMA Network Open.

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— “Mental Disorders Treatment Rates Remain Low Among Children and Adolescents,”Chelsie Derman, HCP Live, October 27, 2023

HealthDay (10/26, Norton) reports, “Millions of older Americans may be unaware they have memory and thinking impairments – mostly because their doctors aren’t diagnosing them, new research suggests.” Investigators found, “after analyzing Medicare data covering 40 million older Americans…that only a small percentage of expected cases of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) were actually diagnosed.” According to HealthDay, “The upshot was that more than 7 million cases went undetected.” The research was published in The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease.

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— “7 Million Americans Have Mild Cognitive Impairment and Don’t Know It,”Amy Norton, HealthDay , October 26, 2023

Psychiatric News (10/26) reports that “at this year’s American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s…annual meeting,” experts debated whether child and adolescent psychiatrists should urge “families to institute blanket bans on screens in bedrooms,” given that “numerous studies have established a strong link between evening screen time and poor sleep quality.”

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— “Should Psychiatrists Advocate Banning Screens From Kids’ Bedrooms?, Psychiatric News , October 26, 2023

The AP (10/26, Baldor) reports, “The number of suicides among U.S. military members and their families dipped slightly in 2022, compared with the previous year, as the Defense Department tries to build prevention and treatment programs to address what has been a steadily growing problem over the past decade, The Associated Press has learned.” However, “because the active-duty force is smaller now, the rate of suicides per 100,000 service members inched up, according to U.S. officials.” Overall, “defense officials said the long-term trend still points to increasing deaths, although the relative stability in the numbers for 2022 gives them some cautious encouragement.”

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— “The number of military suicides dipped in 2022 as the Pentagon works on new prevention programs,”Lolita C. Baldor, AP, October 26, 2023