Kaiser Health News (9/13, Gold) reports, “Schools do not all screen students for mental health issues, and the practice varies widely” depending upon states. But even when children are screened, “many areas lack the community-based mental health treatment options that would be needed to help them.”

Despite the fact that two years ago, “the federal government announced $48 million in new grants to support teachers, schools and communities in recognizing and responding to mental health issues,” mental health issues “continue to go unidentified and untreated” in many school-age kids.

Related Links:

— “Parents Often Battle To Get Their Children Mental Health Services At School,” Jenny Gold, Kaiser Health News, September 13, 2016.

Healio (9/12, Oldt) reported, “College students who experienced childhood bullying and victimization were more likely to report symptoms of depression, anxiety and” post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), researchers found after surveying “482 undergraduate students about their childhood bullying experiences and current psychological functioning.” The findings were published online Aug. 16 in Social Psychology of Education.

Related Links:

— “Childhood bullying predicts depression, anxiety, PTSD in young adulthood,” Healio, September 12, 2016.

Healio (9/12, Oldt) reports a review published online June 27 in LGBT Health concluded “suicide prevention interventions for sexual and gender minority youth are lacking, despite higher rates of suicidal thoughts and behaviors among this population.” The review’s authors “suggest research methodologies be adapted to unique needs of sexual and gender minority youth at risk for suicide.”

Related Links:

— “Review calls for increased efforts in suicide prevention among LGBTQ youth,” Healio, September 12, 2016.

The New York Times (9/13, D5, Span, Subscription Publication) reports that beneficiaries are often told Medicare will no longer cover physical therapy or nursing home stays because they are “stable and chronic,” or have reached “maximum functional capacity,” or they have plateaued.

Seniors “with chronic and progressive diseases – dementia, Parkinson’s, heart failure” – are typically given this incorrect assessment, even though a 2013 settlement of a class-action suit mandated that Medicare “cover skilled care and therapy when they are ‘necessary to maintain the patient’s current condition or prevent or slow further deterioration.’”

In addition, last month, a Federal judge ordered CMS “to do a better job of informing health care” professionals “and Medicare adjudicators that the so-called improvement standard was no longer in effect.” The judge said that while CMS does not have to further update its manuals, it must do a better job of educating the medical community about these changes.

Related Links:

— “Failure to Improve Is Still Being Used, Wrongly, to Deny Medicare Coverage,” Paula Span, New York Times, September 12, 2016.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (9/10, Fauber, Wynn, Fiore) reports that “since 2013, there have been more than 19,000 reports of complications from AD/HD” medications “made to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/MedPage Today analysis.” The article points out that “in the case of adult AD/HD, the definition was relaxed in 2013 by the American Psychiatric Association.”

According to “the new definition, adults need to have five of a possible nine symptoms from either of two categories, down from six of a possible nine, and the symptoms must have been present before age 12, instead of the previous age 7.” However, some “experts question whether adult AD/HD truly is a widespread condition that needs treatment with dangerous” medications.

Related Links:

— “Abuse of ADHD drugs following path of opioids,” John Fauber, Matthew Wynn and Kristina Fiore, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, September 10, 2016.