NPR (4/20) reports that “under the national emergency declared by the Trump Administration in March, the government has suspended a federal law that required patients to have an in-person visit with a physician before they could be prescribed drugs that help quell withdrawal symptoms, such as Suboxone [buprenorphine/naloxone]. Patients can now get those prescriptions via a phone call or videoconference with a doctor.” NPR says that “addiction experts have been calling for that change for years to help expand access for patients in many parts of the country that have shortages of physicians eligible to prescribe these medication-assisted treatments.”

Related Links:

— “Coronavirus Crisis Spurs Access To Online Treatment For Opioid Addiction, “Phil Galewitz, NPR, April 20, 2020

The Washington Post (4/18, Goldstein) reported that just as millions of people in the US have lost their jobs amid the pandemic, many of them have also lost their health insurance. The Washington Post said “in a nation where most health coverage is hinged to employment, the economy’s vanishing jobs are wiping out insurance in the midst of a pandemic.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post, (Requires Login and Subscription), April 18, 2020

Healio (4/17, Gramigna) reported a paper published in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity suggests that patients who recover from a coronavirus infection “may experience a significant neuropsychiatric burden long after the current pandemic.” The paper’s authors suggest, in the words of Healio, “researchers should conduct prospective neuropsychiatric and neuroimmune monitoring of those exposed to SARS-CoV-2 at various points in the life course to better understand the long-term impact of COVID-19, as well as to create a framework for the integration of psychoneuroimmunology into epidemiologic studies of pandemics.” The paper’s authors “wrote that influenza pandemics in the 18th and 19th centuries were followed by increased rates of insomnia, anxiety, depression, mania, suicidality and delirium,” while “outbreaks during the 21st century, such as SARS-CoV-1 in 2003, H1N1 in 2009 and MERS-CoV in 2012, were followed by increased rates of narcolepsy, seizures, encephalitis, Guillain-Barre syndrome and other neuromuscular and demyelinating conditions.”

Related Links:

— “COVID-19 survivors may face ‘significant neuropsychiatric burden,’ experts suggest, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, April 17, 2020

NBC News (4/17, Ramgopal) reported on the presence of coronavirus at the Western State Hospital psychiatric facility near Tacoma, Washington. According to NBC News, “thirty-four patients and staffers have tested positive at Western State since the outbreak began, and one patient has died.” NBC News said, “The challenges are different in psychiatric wards,” as “alcohol-based hand sanitizer is an ingestion hazard,” and “isolation can be dangerous.” American Psychiatric Association council member and Chair of psychiatry at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine Dr. Robert Trestman said, “Our facilities are designed to encourage people getting together, not to keep people apart.” He added “that the coronavirus outbreak has created major challenges around the nation,” stating, “We are forced to deliver care in ways that historically none of us have ever tried to practice and which are by no means optimum.”

Related Links:

— “Coronavirus in a psychiatric hospital: ‘It’s the worst of all worlds’, “Kit Ramgopal, NBC News, April 17, 2020

MD Magazine (4/16, Campbell) reports research “suggests the presence of visual impairment could help predict risk of incident dementia in older women,” and “the severity of visual impairment appeared to correlate with an increased risk of dementia.” The findings were published in JAMA Ophthalmology.

Related Links:

— “Visual Impairment Linked to Increased Dementia Risk in Aging Women, “Patrick Campbell, MD Magazine, April 16, 2020