On its website, NBC News (8/2, Fox) reports that statistics from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, published in Aug. 2 in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, found that “the rate of suicide using guns has gone up in most of the 50 most populous US metropolitan areas, but the murder rate has fallen.” The study suggests that “the economy is a clear factor in the rise in suicides, as is access to guns.” The report focused on large metropolitan areas, and people aged from 10 to 19.

According to HealthDay (8/2, Reinberg), the report “found that the overall gun-murder rate dropped by about 15 percent overall between 2006-2007 and 2009-2010 in a majority of the nation’s 50 largest cities,” but in the same time frame, “the suicide-by-gun rate rose 10 to 15 percent in nearly three-quarters of those cities.” Overall, “more than 22,500 gun murders and more than 38,000 gun suicides were tallied for 2009-2010.”

Related Links:

— “Gun suicides up, murders down in US cities, CDC finds, “Maggie Fox, NBC News, August 1, 2013.

CQ (7/30, Reichard, Subscription Publication) reports that yesterday the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced a 2.3 percent increase in “Medicare payment rates to 481 freestanding inpatient psychiatric facilities and 1,143 psych units of acute care hospitals” for fiscal year 2014. CMS estimates an overall increase of $115 million in inpatient psychiatric care payments for the year starting October 1.

HealthDay (7/31, Gray) reports that according to a study published online July 29 the journal Pediatrics, youngsters “raised in the shadow of a sibling with significant health problems or disabilities may experience more behavioral and emotional problems.” Researchers arrived at this conclusion after studying data on some “6,500 siblings…living in homes with only typically developing children and 245 siblings who lived in homes in which at least one other child had a disability.” Reuters(7/31, Grens) also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “Siblings of Disabled Kids May Show Emotional Effects, “Barbara Bronson Gray, HealthDay, July 30, 2013.

USA Today (7/28, Waseem) reports that the National Association of Broadcasters has launched a “television and radio campaign,” called OK2TALK, “to encourage young adults to open up about their experiences with mental illness.” The campaign directs viewers to “OK2TALK.org, where young adults can share their stories of recovery on a safe, moderated social-media platform.” This “site will also provide resources on spotting mental illness and coping with it.”

Related Links:

— “Campaign tells teens with mental illness it’s ‘OK2TALK’, “Fatimah Waseem, USA Today, July 28, 2013.

According to health experts, fewer American physicians are treating Medicare patients due to frustration with the program’s payment rates and rules, the Wall Street Journal (7/29, A1, Beck, Subscription Publication) reports in a front-page story. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services revealed that the number of physicians who opted out of Medicare last year almost tripled from three years ago. Although officials claimed that the number of physicians withdrawing from the program is not expected to undermine the ACA, they warned that Medicare patients may have a hard time finding a doctor who do accept their benefits.

Related Links:

— “More Doctors Steer Clear of Medicare, The Wall Street Journal, July 29, 2013.