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.

In print and in its “Well” blog, the New York Times (4/22, D4, Brody) reports, “Cancer is responsible for more widowed fathers than any other cause of death, Dr. [Donald Lee] Rosenstein and Dr. [Justin Michael] Yopp noted in an article in the journal Psycho-Oncology. An estimated 100,000 children are living with widowed fathers in the United States, and the trauma of losing a mother at a young age can seriously disrupt a family’s structure and the children’s development, sometimes with lifelong consequences, they wrote.” The study authors concluded, “There is a pressing need to understand the experiences of these widowed fathers and to develop supportive interventions for them and their children.” The article explained how psychiatrist Rosenstein and psychologist Yopp helped establish a support group for widowed fathers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill which has met with resounding success.

Related Links:

— “A Lifeline for Widowed Fathers, “Jane E. Brody, The New York Times, April 22, 2013.

In its “Well” blog, the New York Times (4/22, D1, Ellin) profiles Marvin Tolkin, 86, who “is one of many seniors who are seeking psychological help late in life.” While most never sought mental health aid when they were young, “as people are living longer, and the stigma of psychological counseling has diminished, they are recognizing that their golden years might be easier if they alleviate the problems they have been carrying around for decades.” According to Judith Repetur, a clinical social worker in New York who works almost exclusively with older patients, “It’s never too late, if someone has never dealt with issues…A combination of stresses late in life can bring up problems that weren’t resolved.”

Related Links:

— “How Therapy Can Help in the Golden Years, “Abby Ellin, The New York Times, April 22, 2013.

The Los Angeles Times (4/23, Healy) “Booster Shots” blog reports that yesterday, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) acknowledged it does not know if “there is a screening test that could, with some confidence, detect those at risk of committing suicide, and” whether widespread use thereof would “prevent some of the 37,000 suicides that occur annually in the United States.” The USPSTF “set out to determine whether it would be helpful for primary care physicians to routinely screen all patients for suicide, not just those known to be at high risk – such as those with past suicide attempts, those with depression and other mental illnesses, LGBT youth and those with access to guns.” After reviewing existing research on the subject, the task force issued its draft report which indicated that not enough evidence exists to make a recommendation for universal screening for suicide risk.

CQ (4/23, Subscription Publication) reports, “The task force gives suicide risk screening an ‘I’ rating, which means that under the health care law, any costs associated with such testing would not be paid for under the measure’s preventive services provisions. This recommendation is the same one that the task force issued in 2004 when it last reviewed the evidence for this issue.” In addition, the USPSTF “found that effective treatment for suicide risk was ‘in very high-risk population who were not discovered through screening, such as those who present to an emergency department because of a suicide attempt.'” Reuters (4/23, Seaman) also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “Could screening prevent suicides? Not enough evidence, says panel, ” Melissa Healy, The Los Angeles Times, April 22, 2013.

NPR (4/22, Silverman) reports how, for a “growing number of young people on the autism spectrum” are finding “a natural landing place” in the tech industry. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “one in 88 children in the U.S. has an autism spectrum disorder.” However, experts claim that “people on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum often have an amazing ability to hyper-focus on a task” and “may really flourish at” an “engineering type task or computer design, where their interaction with people is somewhat limited.”

Related Links:

— “Young Adults With Autism Can Thrive In High-Tech Jobs, “Lauren Silverman, NPR, April 22, 2013.