McClatchy (5/8, Galewitz) reports on a study by Urban Institute researchers, published in the journal Health Affairs, which found that “tens of millions of adults under age 65 – both those with insurance and those without – saw their access to health care worsen dramatically over the past decade,” which is interpreted to mean that “more privately insured Americans are delaying treatment because of rising out-of-pocket costs, while safety-net programs for the poor and uninsured are failing to keep up with demand for care.” The study noted that while the healthcare reform law “won’t necessarily solve all those access problems,” it “does offer several new strategies, such as new payment methods to control rising costs, which could help improve access, but there’s no guarantee they will work.”

Reuters (5/8, Morgan) quotes the researchers, “If the key coverage provisions in the (law) are ruled unconstitutional or repealed, projections indicate that the numbers of uninsured people will grow. Given what we have observed over the past decade, we would be likely to see further deterioration in access to care for all adults — insured and uninsured alike.”

Related Links:

— “Health care increasingly out of reach for millions of Americans,”Phil Galewitz, McClatchy, May 7, 2012.

The Wall Street Journal (5/8, D2, Dooren, Subscription Publication) reports that according to a study published in the May issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, individuals who have chronic depression may be at increased risk for developing dementia, compared to those who do not suffer from depression.

HealthDay (5/8, Preidt) reported that after evaluating “long-term data from more than 13,000 people in California,” researchers found that “people with late-life depression were twice as likely to get Alzheimer’s disease and those with both midlife and late-life depression had a more than threefold increased risk of vascular dementia.”

Related Links:

— “Study Examines Depression and Aging Brain,”Jennifer Corbett, The Wall Street Journal, May 8, 2012.

The Wall Street Journal (5/9, D3, Wang, Subscription Publication) reports that in Baltimore, MD, at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, researchers are conducting experiments in which toddlers who are at increased risk for autism spectrum disorders are put into groups designed to elicit improvements in how the little ones socialize and communicate. Currently, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most youngsters who receive an autism diagnosis are about four, and behavioral and social interventions take place even later. However, the sooner children start with such interventions, the better their outcomes are in the long run. For that reason, the Kennedy Krieger intervention groups are focusing on one- and two-year-olds. The toddlers are engaged in intense playgroups with specific activities designed to help them learn to form concepts. So far, results are promising.

Related Links:

— “Targeting Child’s Play to Help Tackle Autism,”Shirley S. Wang , The Wall Street Journal, May 9, 2012.

A Monday ruling by the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals that it cannot order Veterans Affairs to revamp its mental healthcare system was heavily covered, by publications like the AP and Reuters and by newspapers in various parts of the country. Despite the court’s ruling, the coverage tended to focus on criticism of VA’s mental healthcare system.

The AP (5/8, Elias) reports that on Monday, 10 judges on a “special 11-judge panel” of the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals reversed an earlier demand, made by a three-judge panel of the same court, that Veterans Affairs “dramatically overhaul” its mental healthcare system. In ruling on a lawsuit filed by Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth, the 11-judge panel “said that any such changes need to be ordered by Congress” or the President. A lawyer for the two vets groups “said he will ask the US Supreme Court to review the case.”

Running a shortened version of the AP story in its “National Briefing/West” section, the New York Times (5/8, A20, Subscription Publication) reports that when it made its ruling last year, the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals’ three-judge panel ordered VA “to ensure that suicidal veterans are seen immediately.” That panel “found the department’s ‘unchecked incompetence’ in handling the flood of post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health claims was unconstitutional.”

Related Links:

— “Fed court reverses order for VA system overhaul,”Paul Elias, Associated Press, May 7, 2012.

Medscape (5/6, Brooks) reported, “Determining when it is time for a patient to stop driving and hand over the keys is a growing issue for psychiatrists.” A poster presentation “at the American Psychiatric Association’s 2012 Annual Meeting highlights the fact that psychiatrists are ‘increasingly’ faced with patients whose driving ability may be impaired by excessive daytime sleepiness due to primary sleep disorders or to sleep disturbance associated with medical and psychiatric illness, such as dementia, epilepsy, or substance abuse.” What’s more, “patients with dementia are three to five times more likely to be involved in a motor vehicle accident than age-matched control individuals, and epilepsy is one of the most frequently implicated medical causes for motor vehicle accidents.”

Related Links:

— “Patients’ Fitness to Drive a Growing Issue for Psychiatrists,”Megan Brooks, Medscape Today, May 5, 2012.