Medwire (4/26, McDermid) reports, “The longer patients with first-episode psychosis go untreated, the less likely they are to achieve remission within a year of starting treatment,” according to a study published April 30 in the journal Psychiatry Research. The 153-patient study revealed that “the average duration of untreated psychosis was 8.8 months in patients who achieved remission versus 15.6 months in those who did not.” The investigators found that “just three factors predicted remission: longer duration of untreated psychosis; worse negative symptoms (higher Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms [SANS] scores); and having completed only primary education.”

Related Links:

— “Delayed psychosis treatment harms chance of success, “Eleanor McDermid, Medwire News, April 26, 2013.

In continuing coverage, the Connecticut Mirror (4/25, Merritt) reports, “Anthem Health Plans has agreed to reprocess 28,000 claims amounting to $400,000 in additional payments to mental health providers following an investigation by the [Connecticut] Department of Insurance, the department announced Wednesday.” Nevertheless, “it is unlikely that the agreement will prompt physicians’ groups to withdraw a discrimination lawsuit against Anthem on the same issue any time soon.” The piece explains, “Anthem had adjusted its billing codes and fees as of Jan. 1 when a new set of codes established by the American Medical Association took effect.”

Hartford Business (4/25) reports, “Anthem will begin notifying affected providers May 1 and will also explain the change in the billing code reimbursement procedure to its members.” Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Thomas “Leonardi said that Anthem has cooperated fully with the department throughout the oversight process, which began in early March after the department received a formal complaint from” clinicians.

Related Links:

— “Anthem agrees to reprocess 28,000 claims to mental health providers, “Grace Merritt, The Connecticut Mirror, April 24, 2013.

Medscape (4/25, Lowry) reports, “Results from the first phase of the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS) showed that preschoolers who underwent a stressful home event had a 30% increased risk of developing psychosis.” What’s more, “the type of stressful events that predicted psychosis in preschool-aged children were those that concerned the home or family, independent of other types of stressors.” The research, which “was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health,” was presented at the 14th International Congress on Schizophrenia Research.

Medwire (4/24) reports that according to a study published in JAMA Psychiatry, “young adolescents who have been bullied have an increased risk for developing a psychiatric disorder as young adults, with the worst effects seen for individuals who are both victims and bullies.” After following “420 young adolescents who had been bullied, were bullies only, or were both bullies and victims (bullies/victims) annually between the ages of 9 and 16 years” and then adjusting for confounding factors, researchers found that “victims of bullying in childhood had a 4.3-, 3.1-, and 4.6-fold increased risk for developing anxiety disorders, panic disorders, or agoraphobia, respectively.”

Related Links:

— “Psychiatric disorders in young adulthood linked to bullying in childhood, “Ingrid Grasmo, Medwire News, April 23, 2013.

Reuters (4/24, Seaman) reports that when admitting a psychiatric patient from the emergency department (ED) to a hospital bed, physicians may spend approximately 40 minutes getting approval from health insurers, according to a research letter published online April 23 in the Annals of Emergency Medicine. Sometimes that approval process took upwards of an hour. The authors of the research letter came to these conclusions after following 53 patients with psychiatric problems who arrived at their ED during a three-month period last year.

On its website, Fox News (4/23, Woerner) reports, “Unlike other doctors, psychiatrists are required to seek permission from a patient’s insurance company, before admitting anyone to the hospital from an emergency” department. After making a determination that a patient needs to be put into the hospital, psychiatrists must phone health insurers to make the case for hospitalization. “They present initially to an administrator and then to a social worker. If the case is denied by the social worker, the psychiatrists must present their case to a doctor.” Only patients on Medicare do not need such approval. The authors of the research letter would like to see psychiatrists have the ability to admit patients based on clinical expertise.

Related Links:

— “Psychiatric insurance approval takes time in ERs, “Andrew M. Seaman, Reuters, April 23, 2013.