RevCycle Intelligence (7/6, LaPointe) reports “claim denial rates varied significantly among Healthcare.gov marketplace payers,” according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis. The results showed “that, overall, nearly one out of every five claims submitted for in-network services in 2020 was denied by marketplace payers,” but “depending on the payer, average claim denial rates ranged from just 1% to 80%.” Also, denial rates “varied significantly by location, the analysis showed.”

Related Links:

— “Claim Denial Rates as High as 80% for Some Marketplace Payers “Jacqueline LaPointe, RevCycle Intelligence, July 6, 2022

HealthDay (7/6, Quinlan Houghtaling) reports, “Children as young as 9 and 10 start to wonder about tobacco, booze and even marijuana, and many may have easy access to these substances at home, mostly because their parents have not forbidden their use yet,” researchers concluded in a study revealing that “about one in 10 of the nearly 12,000 preteen children…said they’re curious about using alcohol or tobacco products, while one in 50 expressed curiosity about using marijuana.” The findings were published in the June issue of the journal Drug & Alcohol Dependence Reports.

Related Links:

— “Do Preteens Think About Booze, Pot? Survey Says Yes “Cara Murez, HealthDay, July 6, 2022

Medscape (7/6, Subscription Publication) reports, “High use of telemental health services by patients with serious mental illness (SMI) who live in nonmetropolitan US counties is associated with improvements in key outcomes, including greater post-hospitalization follow-up, new research suggests.” In this “nationwide study, researchers drew on Medicare data from nearly 3000 counties covering the period from 2000 to 2018.” The “results show that counties in which there was greater use of telemental health services reported higher increases of clinical visits and better follow-up after hospitalization among patients with bipolar 1 disorder and schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders.” The findings were published online June 27 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

The Washington Post (7/6, McShane) reports, “On July 16, Americans will be able to call or text a new phone number – 988 – if they feel they are experiencing a mental health crisis and/or are at risk of suicide.” This “forthcoming switch to 988 is due to passage of the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act,” which “also mandated that the switch to 988 include a strategy to provide specialized services for LGBTQ youth, who are more than four times as likely to contemplate suicide than their non-LGBTQ peers, research shows.” Many “officials say they hope the new, shorter phone number will be easier for Americans to remember, with the goal of helping more people in crisis – and LGBTQ youth in particular.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (7/5) reports, “Psychedelics such as 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and psilocybin have shown promise for the treatment of such psychiatric disorders as posttraumatic stress disorder and depression,” but “any FDA approval of psychedelics will almost certainly lead to substantial off-label use as well, cautioned medical ethicists in a Viewpoint piece” published online June 29 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Guardrails Needed to Control Promotion, Off-label Use of Psychedelics, Psychiatric News, July 5, 2022