In a lengthy investigatory piece, the Marshall Project (8/10, Schwartzapfel) reports that three years ago, “Congress passed the First Step Act, a wide-ranging prison reform legislation that, among other things, required the federal prison system to expand access to medications for people addicted to opioids.” Currently, however, the combination of “bureaucratic inertia and outdated thinking about addiction treatment means the federal program is still serving only a tiny fraction of those eligible, The Marshall Project has learned.” As of last month, “the Bureau of Prisons [BOP] had only 268 people on medications to treat opioid dependence, according to Jeffrey A. Burkett, who helps oversee the rollout of the program as the National Health Services Administrator for the BOP.” This figure represents “less than 2% of the more than 15,000 people the bureau itself estimated were eligible, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report.”

Related Links:

— “Drugs that treat opioid addiction and overdoses not widely available in federal prisons “Beth Schwartzapfel, The Marshall Project, August 10, 2021

MedPage Today (8/9, Grant) reports on research finding that “students who experienced mistreatment during medical school were more likely to become exhausted or disengaged, have less empathy, and have career regret.” The study found that “those who reported mistreatment on the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Medical School Year 2 Questionnaire – 22.9% of respondents – had higher exhaustion and disengagement scores on the Graduation Questionnaire (GQ) 2 years later.” In addition, “18.8% of those who had experienced mistreatment reported career regret on the GQ.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (8/9) reports, “Globally, the pooled prevalence estimates for clinically elevated depression and anxiety symptoms almost doubled among children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic,” investigators concluded in a 29-study, 80,879-participant meta-analysis. The findings were published online Aug. 9 in JAMA Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Depression, Anxiety Up in Children, Teens Worldwide During Pandemic “Physician’s Briefing Staff, HealthDay, August 9, 2021

Psychiatric News (8/9) reports, “When patients receiving mental health care were asked to complete a standardized questionnaire that asked whether they had access to guns, most provided a response,” investigators concluded after compiling “data on 128,802 patients who completed these questionnaires at either a primary care or mental health clinic between 2016 and 2019.” The study revealed that “overall, 83.4% of patients in primary care clinics and 91.8% of those in mental health clinics answered the question on access; in both settings those who did not respond were more likely to be older, male, live in a rural setting, and/or have a recent substance use disorder diagnosis.” The findings were published online Aug. 6 in JAMA Health Forum.

Related Links:

— “Mental Health Patients Found Willing to Answer Routine Question on Firearm Access, Psychiatric News, August 9, 2021

Healio (8/9, Miller) reports, “Laws in 23 states that capped the number of days a Medicare enrollee could receive an initial opioid prescription may have had their intended effect,” investigators concluded. Such laws, “which were implemented between March 2016 and July 2018, limited the duration of first opioid prescriptions to seven days in 17 states, five days in two states and three days in four states.” The study revealed that “the number of days an opioid was prescribed for each Medicare enrollee dropped by a mean of 11.6 days during the five-year period, compared with a drop of 10.1 days in the control states.” The findings were published online Aug. 9 in a research letter in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Opioid prescription laws provide ‘significant but limited outcome’ “Janel Miller, Healio, August 9, 2021