Healthcare Finance News (5/23, Lagasse) reports, “The American Hospital Association has sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice asking it to investigate routine denials from major health insurance companies.” Furthermore, “the AHA recommended that the DOJ establish a task force ‘to conduct False Claims Act investigations into commercial health insurance companies that are found to routinely deny patients access to services and deny payments to health care providers.’” This “recommendation was based in large part on a recent report released by the” HHS OIG, titled, “Some Medicare Advantage Organization Denials of Prior Authorization Requests Raise Concerns About Beneficiary Access to Medically Necessary Care.” The report “garnered reaction from” American Medical Association President Gerald E. Harmon, M.D., who said the report “uncovered information that mirrors physician experiences.” He added, “Surveys of physicians have consistently found that excessive authorization controls required by health insurers are persistently responsible for serious harm when necessary medical care is delayed, denied, or disrupted.”

Related Links:

— “AHA presses Department of Justice to investigate routine denials from health insurers “Jeff Lagasse, Healthcare Finance News, May 23, 2022

HealthDay (5/23) reports, “During the first pandemic year, there were increases in the proportion of pediatric patients presenting to hospital with suicidal ideation/suicidal attempts, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, substance use disorders, and obsessive compulsive and related disorders,” investigators concluded in a study that described “psychiatric diagnoses and boarding among pediatric patients presenting to the hospital after the pandemic onset in a retrospective chart review at a large Northeastern U.S. pediatric hospital.” The findings were published online May 17 in the journal Hospital Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Pediatric Mental Health Crises Up During First Year of Pandemic, HealthDay, May 23, 2022

MedPage Today (5/23, Monaco) reports, “Fewer Americans are anxious about the COVID-19 pandemic,” data from “the annual Healthy Minds Poll” indicate. In fact, “about half of adults in the U.S. reported pandemic-related anxiety – down from 65% in 2021 and 75% in 2020, the poll, which was released at the” American Psychiatric Association 2022 Annual Meeting, showed. Nevertheless, “‘while the overall level of concern has dropped, still four in 10 parents are worried about how their children are doing, and a third are having issues with access to care,’ said Saul Levin, MD, MPA, CEO and medical director of the APA, in a statement” released May 22.

According to Medscape (5/23, Brooks, Subscription Publication), meanwhile, “‘it’s not surprising that recent events, such as the war in Ukraine, racially motivated mass shootings, or the impacts of climate change, are weighing heavily on Americans’ minds,’ APA President Vivian Pender, MD, said in a news release.” Dr. Pender added, “COVID-19 in a way has taken a backseat, but the pandemic and its mental health effects are very much still with us.” For that reason, “it’s important that we are cognizant of that and continue to work to ensure people who need psychiatric care, whether the causes are tied to the pandemic or to other issues, can access it.”

Healio (5/23) reports, “Sixty percent of working adults reported knowing how to access mental health services through their employer in 2022, down from 71% in 2021, the 2022 Healthy Minds poll” also revealed. A separate but related Healio (5/23, Downey) article also covers other aspects of the poll.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HCPlive (5/22, Kunzmann) interviewed Linda Chokroverty, MD, “child psychiatrist and assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine,” at the American Psychiatric Association 2022 Annual Meeting. Dr. Chokroverty “discussed the importance of timely and coordinated psychiatric care in children impacted by disasters and trauma.” In the interview, Dr. Chokroverty “stressed the severe reactions children may have to disasters – increased fear and anxiety, and a desire to avoid social gatherings or school are among the more common effects.”

Related Links:

— “The Pediatric Disaster Psychiatry Care Team “Kevin Kunzmann, HCPLive, May 22, 2022

The New York Times (5/20, Kovaleski) “examined the listing of survivors in nearly 3,600 obituaries for people all across the United States who have died of Covid since March 2020,” finding that “each left behind an average of 15 loved ones.” American Psychiatric Association President-Elect Rebecca W. Brendel, MD, JD, “noted that grief from a death affects a wide range of people beyond those who might be mentioned in an obituary.” By way of example, many patients with coronavirus “have died without family by their side because of social distancing, she said, so already overburdened health workers have often stepped in almost as surrogates in their last moments.”

Related Links:

— “A sister reflects on the cruel separation that Covid imposed on grieving relatives. “Serge F. Kovaleski, The New York Times, May 20, 2022