HealthLeaders Media (12/19, Wicklund ) reports, “Federal officials have launched a new behavioral health program aimed at creating care management programs for Medicare and Medicaid patients dealing with severe mental health conditions and substance abuse disorder (SUD).” The CMS “Innovation in Behavioral Health (IBH) Model seeks to bridge the gap between behavioral health and primary care by enabling specialty behavioral health practices, including community mental health centers, opioid treatment programs and private or public practices, to create interprofessional care teams to coordinate care.” The new program’s goal “is to improve care and outcomes for the estimated 25% of all Medicare patients experiencing mental illness and the 40% of Medicaid patients dealing with a mental illness or SUD.”

Related Links:

— “CMS LAUNCHES NEW PROGRAM FOR MENTAL HEALTH, OUD TREATMENT,” Eric Wickland, HealthLeaders Media, December19 , 2024

HealthDay (12/19, Thompson ) reports, “Teenagers who land in an ER with a mental health crisis can be effectively helped by a community-based program.” A new study “shows that troubled teens placed in such a program were significantly less likely to return to the ER or require inpatient psychiatric care due to a follow-up crisis.” The community-based “program did not reduce risk of a subsequent suicide attempt, but did reduce the risk of being hospitalized for a suicide attempt.” The findings were published in Psychiatric Services.

Related Links:

— “New Youth Mental Health Program Shows Promise,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, December 19, 2024

The AP (12/18, Morga ) reports that although “the holidays are meant to be a time of celebration with family and friends…they can also bring pressure to spend money on gifts, gatherings and plane tickets home, exacerbated by brand emails, social media influencers and family expectations.” With credit card debt increasing “and prices for many items still high due to inflation, overspending during the holiday season can add to the financial stress many Americans are already experiencing, said Dr. Marketa Wills, CEO and medical director of the American Psychiatric Association.”

Wills said, “The idea that one is on the hook for buying gifts for all their friends and families adds an enormous amount of stress on someone trying to have a perfect holiday.” The AP offers “expert recommendations to avoid financial stress this holiday season,” including “setting expectations with your family,” making a budget, and “gifting experiences rather than things.”

Related Links:

— “How to avoid financial stress during the holiday season,” Adriana Morga, Associated Press, December 18, 2024

Healio (12/18, Jenkins ) reports, “Children and young adults who underwent surgical removal of tonsils or adenoids had a higher risk for stress-related disorders later in life vs. those who did not undergo either procedure, according to a study.” The investigators “noted that these associations were independent of sex, age at surgery, time since surgery, parental educational attainment or parental history of stress-related disorders.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Tonsil, adenoid removal in early life may up risk for stress-related disorders later on,” Cassandra Jenkins, Healio, December 18, 2024

HealthDay (12/17, Mundell ) reports, “There may be something special about team sports in childhood that helps sharpen a kid’s brain, new research shows.” Investigators found that “children who were on soccer or volleyball teams scored higher on tests of ‘executive function’ – thinking skills needed to organize, remember details, make decisions and stay focused – compared to kids who didn’t play sports or played individual sports only.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Team Sports Score Big Points for Your Child’s Brain, Study Finds,” , HealthDay, December17 , 2024