Forbes (7/5, Burns) reports the University of Missouri “has been providing psychiatric and counseling services via telemedicine to patients around the state,” and a recent study “by the University of Missouri School of Medicine revealed that the video-based mental health services are being utilized in mostly rural areas by individuals who might otherwise need to travel upwards of 20 miles for support, and whose average age is 16.” Healthcare administrators across the country are looking to use telehealth for help curb opioid abuse, improve women’s access to sexual and reproductive health support, and could potentially turn to the technology to benefit children and teens looking for counseling.

Related Links:

— “Families In Rural Areas Using Telemedicine For Psychiatric, Specialty Care,” Janet Burns, Forbes, July , 2016.

Modern Healthcare (7/5, Dickson, Subscription Publication) reports ever since Medicaid was created in 1965, it “has excluded payment for institutions of mental disease (IMDs) for beneficiaries 21 and over,” and the majority of “residential treatment facilities for mental health and substance use disorders with more than 16 beds did not qualify for Medicaid reimbursement.” On July 5, that five-decade ban was lifted, but experts say it will take some time before beneficiaries can take advantage of the change. According to Andrew Sperling, director of legislative affairs for NAMI, “No radical change is expected July 5th as plans need to contract with facilities and those agreements may not kick in until the next contract year.”

Related Links:

— “Medicaid plans can now pay mental health institutions. Most won’t until 2017,” Virgil Dickson, Modern Healthcare, July 5, 2016.

In “To Your Health,” the Washington Post (7/1, Beachum) reported that researchers for the Treatment Advocacy Center have found the number of psychiatric beds in state hospitals across the US has fallen to a historic low, and almost half of those that are available “are filled with patients from the criminal justice system.” Both sets of data “reflect the sweeping changes” that have occurred in the 50 years since the nation began deinstitutionalizing mental-health patients “in favor of outpatient treatment.” The “promise of that shift was never fulfilled,” however, “and experts and advocates say the result is seen even today in the increasing ranks of homeless and incarcerated Americans suffering from serious mental conditions.”

Related Links:

— “Nation’s psychiatric bed count falls to record low,” Lateshia Beachum, , July 1, 2016.

HealthDay (6/30, Preidt) reports that a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society “suggests that the problem of missed” medication “rises with age and failing memory, especially for men.” Researchers found that “overall, people aged 80 and older were 1.5 to 3 times more likely to require help taking medications than those ages 65-69.” The investigators found that other factors linked to “medication lapses” were “memory deficits” and having “trouble with the tasks of everyday living.”

Related Links:

— “Why Some Seniors Don’t Take Their Meds,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, July 30, 2016.

The AP (6/30, Stobbe) reports, “Farmers, lumberjacks and fishermen have the highest suicide rate in the US, while librarians and educators have the lowest,” the findings of a CDC report published July 1 in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report suggest. Investigators “found the highest suicide rates in manual laborers who work in isolation and face unsteady employment,” but “high rates were also seen in carpenters, miners, electricians and people who work in construction.” Dentists, physicians, and “other health care professionals had an 80 percent lower suicide rate than the farmers, fishermen and lumberjacks.”

STAT (6/30, Seervai) reports that “men were far more likely to take their own lives than women,” the paper found. Report lead author and health scientist Wendy LiKam Wa McIntosh, of the CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention, “said she hopes the report’s findings will help employers design strategies to prevent suicide – including wellness and education programs – and encourage people showing signs of distress to seek help.”

Related Links:

— “Professions at highest risk of suicide: Farming, fishing, construction work,” SHANOOR SEERVAI, StatNews, June 30, 2016.