According to Psychiatric News (11/12), the CMS “has expanded the definition of telehealth services that will be permanently eligible for reimbursement under the Medicare program to include audio-only services for established patients with mental illness/substance use disorders (SUDs) who are unable or unwilling to use video technology.” This “final rule on telehealth services for mental illness/SUDs is part of the 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, which covers updates to physician payment and other regulations regarding Medicare’s Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) each year.” APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, MD, MPA, stated, “This is a real win for our patients.” Dr. Levin added, “We are grateful to CMS for this rule, which will prove invaluable to our patients well beyond the public health emergency.”Related Links:

— “CMS Approves Permanent Coverage of Audio-Only Telehealth Services for Mental Illness/SUDs, Psychiatric News, November 12, 2021

According to Healio (11/12, Gramigna), emergency department (ED) “patients with suicide attempts or self-harm had a high risk for suicide in the year after discharge,” researchers concluded after analyzing the “data of 55,323 patients with suicide attempts or self-harm, 435,464 patients with suicidal ideation and 9,144,807 patients with other mental health visits via 2008 to 2012 Medicaid data,” then following all patients “for suicide for one year after discharge.” The findings were published online in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Suicide attempt, self-harm in ED patients pose risks in year after discharge “Joe Gramigna, Healio, November 12, 2021

Medwire News (11/11, McDermid) reports, “Researchers find women with type 1 diabetes report a high rate of sexual dysfunction, which may be linked to psychosocial issues.” According to the study, published in Diabetic Medicine, “sexual dysfunction was reported by 50.3% of 171 women (average age 39 years) with type 1 diabetes attending a single outpatient clinic, compared with 35.0% of 60 control women of similar age, equating to a significant 1.93-fold increased risk after accounting for menopausal status, recent urinary or genital infection, and depression.”

Related Links:

— “Sexual dysfunction risk in women with type 1 diabetes highlighted “Eleanor McDermid, Medwire News, November 11, 2021

HealthDay (11/11, Preidt) reports in a follow-up study “based on surveys of more than 3,000 people nationwide,” researchers found that for “people whose sitting times stayed high” during the COVID-19 pandemic, “their depressive symptoms, on average, didn’t recover in the same way as everyone else’s.” The findings were published online Oct. 1 in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Too Much Sitting May Be Bad for Your Mental Health ” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, November 11, 2021

Psychiatric News (11/11) reports, “More than 8% of older veterans have subthreshold posttraumatic stress disorder (clinically significant PTSD symptoms below the threshold for a diagnosis),” researchers concluded after analyzing “data from 3,001 U.S. veterans aged 60 years or older who participated in the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study between November 2019 and March 2020.” Participants “were assessed using the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5, the Life Events Checklist for DSM-5 (for trauma exposure), and other measures.” The findings were published online Oct. 29 in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Subthreshold PTSD Affects More Than 8% of Older Veterans, Psychiatric News, November 11, 2021