Week of Oct. 31–Nov. 4, 2022

General Articles

• Depression should not be considered a normal part of aging and should never be taken lightly. The prevalence of clinical depression in aging seniors can't be ignored, nor can the added barriers to behavioral healthcare in senior living facilities. Access to high-quality, comprehensive, and convenient depression treatment should be available to all residents of skilled nursing and assisted living facilities, and this care should be normalized for those facing hardship. Read more here. (A free account is required to read this article.)

Youth Mental Health

• If you watch the news or follow current events, stories about the youth mental health crisis shape how you think about young people—and how young people think about themselves. Young people are facing challenges with mental health, it is urgent, and we do need to take serious action. But the science of framing—the study of how the choices we make in presenting information affect how people think, feel, and act—tells us that the crisis story we're told can backfire, leading to unintended negative consequences that reinforce stereotypes and block change. Read more here.
• A pandemic survey found that adolescents who answered more COVID-19 test questions correctly also reported lower stress, anxiety and depression as well as lower loneliness and fear of missing out, also known as FOMO. For the study, published in the Journal of Child and Family Studies, Washington State University researchers surveyed 215 teens ages 14-17 across the U.S. in July 2020 during the early months of the pandemic. Read more here.
• When most people think of a stroke patient, they often picture someone over 65.  But experts say the rate of strokes is increasing among young people, and a new study suggests alcohol consumption may have something to do with it. Researchers found young people who were considered moderate to heavy drinkers were more likely to have a stroke compared with those who were considered light drinkers or didn’t drink alcohol at all. Read more here.

Impact of the Pandemic

• A large study  suggests that people who experience worse COVID-19 symptoms may be more likely to subsequently develop notable symptoms 12 weeks or more after the initial infection. Also, most patients went on to have long COVID, regardless of the severity of their original illness. The study, published by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), was based on data collected on pre-Omicron infections. Read more here.

The Opioid Crisis and Addiction Issues

• Midterm election madness is in full swing and the incipient cold/flu/COVID season is looming. Our national opioid epidemic has largely disappeared from the headlines with the exception of local coverage when drugs are associated with a crime. How are we faring in this longstanding battle? First, a brief recap of what brought us to this point. Read more here. (A free account is required to read this article.)
• The federal government counted more accidental overdose deaths in 2021 alone than it did in the 20-year period from 1979 through 1998. Overdoses in recent years have been many times more frequent than they were during the black tar heroin epidemic that led President Richard Nixon to launch his War on Drugs, or during the cocaine crisis in the 1980s. As fentanyl gains attention, mistaken beliefs persist about the drug, how it is trafficked and why so many people are dying. Read more here.
• Texas has joined a multibillion-dollar, multistate opioid settlement with CVS Pharmacy — the latest development in numerous lawsuits regarding the roles of manufacturers, distributors, and consultants in the opioid crisis. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that the state is signing on to a $5 billion settlement with the retail giant, which was accused of inadequately monitoring opioid prescriptions. If other state, municipal and tribal governments accept, Texas could receive more than $276 million. Read more here.
• For much of his 30-plus-year career, Dr. Russell Suda, an OB/GYN and Cabarrus Health Alliance’s medical director in North Carolina since 2004, didn’t care to treat patients with substance use disorder. Suda said treatment required too much of one individual and one specialty. But as more pregnant women presented with substance use disorder in his community, he realized he needed to step up and care for them. Suda also started approaching community partners in 2015 that could help address mental health and social determinants of health related to substance use disorder — elements out of his wheelhouse. Read more here.
• Providers of methadone for addiction treatment have a message for advocates seeking a giant expansion in access: Be careful what you wish for.  Methadone, they acknowledge, is a highly effective medication for opioid addiction. But allowing doctors to prescribe it directly to patients could backfire, they argue, by leading to an increase in low-quality care or even overdoses on methadone itself.  Read more here.

Alcohol Use

• An estimated 1 in 5 deaths of people ages 20 to 49 were attributable to excessive alcohol use in the United States, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open. For people ages 20 to 64, drinking-related deaths accounted for 1 in 8, the study said. The percentage of deaths attributed to alcohol use varied state by state, but nationally it’s a leading cause of preventable death, said lead study author Dr. Marissa Esser, who leads the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s alcohol program. Read more here. 

Suicide Prevention

• Twenty-seven years ago on Valentine’s Day, Fonda Bryant had decided to kill herself. She credits a perceptive relative for stepping in and saving her life. Today, Bryant is a certified suicide prevention instructor and begins each hour-and-a-half training by sharing her own story of living with clinical depression as a suicide attempt survivor. Read more here.

Health Insurance and Mental Health Benefits

• This 24^th annual survey of employers conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation provides a detailed look at trends in employer-sponsored health coverage, including premiums, employee contributions, cost-sharing provisions, offer rates, wellness programs, and employer practices. The 2022 survey included 2,188 interviews with non-federal public and private firms. Annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage reached $22,463 this year, with workers on average paying $6,106 toward the cost of their coverage. Read more here.
• Employers, patients or taxpayers could be on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars in additional health spending if providers and insurers successfully shift those inflation-driven costs, according to a recent McKinsey analysis. Why it matters: The health care sector's profits are severely at risk, per the analysis. But key players could yet dodge the bullet coming their way. Read more here.
• All signs point to a crushing surge in health care costs for patients and employers next year — and that means health care industry groups are about to brawl over who pays the price. Why it matters: The surge could build pressure on Congress to stop ignoring the underlying costs that make care increasingly unaffordable for everyday Americans — and make billions for health care companies. Read more here.

Research

• The main psychoactive ingredient found in magic mushrooms can significantly reduce symptoms of difficult-to-treat depression, data from the largest clinical trial ever to test the keenly watched compound has found. The mid-stage study, conducted by the London-based and Nasdaq-listed COMPASS Pathways, involved 233 patients with so-called treatment-resistant depression who have failed to benefit from at least two antidepressants. Read more here.
• Health and dieting trends on TikTok glorify weight loss and may contribute to disordered eating behaviors and body dissatisfaction, particularly in adolescent and young users, according to a University of Vermont study published in the journal PLOS One. Why it matters: It is the first study to assess content related to nutrition and body-image at scale on the social app for short video. Read more here.

Federal and State Policy

• Millions of Americans can begin selecting their 2023 health insurance plans on HealthCare.gov on Tuesday, as the Biden administration pushes to keep the number of uninsured Americans at a record low. Those searching for coverage will largely be shielded from an increase in costs because of the extension of the generous subsidies that began last year as part of Democrats’ $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief law and drove a big increase in enrollment. Read more here.
• The Biden administration is trying to jump start a Medicare program that pays health providers based on patient outcomes rather than by how many services they perform. Why it matters: The alternative payment effort was created through the Affordable Care Act, but participation has plateaued since 2018 amid waning interest from providers. Driving the news: The Biden administration finalized an overhaul of the initiative, known as the Medicare Shared Savings Program. Read more here.
• Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) called for a broad bipartisan deal to protect the solvency of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, popular programs that face serious funding issues over the next few decades. “You’re going to get your financial house in order. We cannot live with this crippling debt,” Manchin, whose pivotal vote both delayed and helped pass big pieces of President Biden’s agenda, told Fortune’s Alan Murray at a CEO conference.   Read more here.