Healio (11/19, Gramigna) reports research appears to underscore “the significantly higher costs for privately insured adult patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder [MDD] and suicide ideation/attempt than adults without MDD.” Investigators arrived at this conclusion after examining data on “2,061 patients aged 18 to 64 years with MDD and suicide ideation/attempt using Optum Health Care Solutions database of privately insured patients.” The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy – AMCP Nexus 2019.

Related Links:

— “Patients with MDD and suicide ideation/attempt experience significant health care costs, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, November 19, 2019

Newsweek (11/18, Gander) reports, “Two thirds of parents” surveyed “in the U.S. say they feel there are barriers to them recognizing their child has depression.” In the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health, 40 percent “of the nationally representative sample of 819 parents, who lived with a child aged between 0-18 years old…said they might find it hard to tell normal changes in moods from symptoms of the mental illness.” Thirty percent “said children were good hiding their feelings.”

Related Links:

— “Two Thirds Of Parents Say Barriers Like Mood Swings Could Make It Hard To Spot Depression In Their Kids, “Kashmira Gander, Newsweek, November 18, 2019

Psychiatric News (11/18) reports, “Women with schizophrenia are only half as likely as women in the general population to receive mammograms,” researchers concluded in an 11-study meta-analysis, the findings of which were published online Nov. 14 in Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Many Women With Schizophrenia Do Not Receive Mammograms, Meta-Analysis Suggests, Psychiatric News, November 18, 2019

“Fewer” physicians “would have to wait for permission to prescribe addiction treatment” medications “under new, bipartisan legislation being unveiled this week by two lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee,” STAT (11/18, Facher) reports. The new bill, as written by Representatives Paul Tonko (D-NY) and David McKinley (R-WV), would ban “the practice of ‘prior authorization,’ in which insurers require doctors to seek approval before they can proceed with a prescription or procedure,” in state “Medicaid programs for addiction treatment medicines like buprenorphine.” The measure “comes amid part of a broader movement to expand addiction treatment as the overdose crisis continues to claim roughly 70,000 American lives each year.” STAT adds, “In a 2017 survey conducted by the American Medical Association, 64% of physicians reported waiting at least a day for authorization to prescribe addiction” medications.

Related Links:

— “A new bill would let more doctors prescribe addiction treatments without waiting for insurers’ permission, ” Lev Facher, STAT, November 18, 2019

The Dallas Morning News (11/19, Smith) reports that “more needs to be done to provide mental and behavioral health services for children – especially those living in poverty,” according to Children’s Health annual report examining “the quality of life for kids in six North Texas counties.” In Collin and Dallas counties, the report found “the number of children receiving mental health diagnoses through Medicaid managed care has more than doubled in recent years.” The report noted that “funding for child-specific mental health services has decreased from 2016-17 to 2018-19,” while “child mortality and adolescent suicides are on the rise, with Dallas County experiencing a 27% increase in adolescent suicides in 2016.” This is the first year in the report’s “16-year history” where a specific recommendation was made to target mental health specifically.

Related Links:

— “With suicide rates and child mortality on rise in Dallas, experts urge for more help for kids’ mental health, “Corbett Smith, The Dallas Morning News, November 18, 2019