- Seven current and former U.S. surgeons general were at Dartmouth College to talk about the nation's mental health crisis. The country's current top doctor, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, was joined by predecessors going back to the first Bush administration. Murthy said loneliness has become widespread, as communities have become less and less connected. He called it one of the country’s most pressing public health issues. Murthy, who earlier this year released a report on how to address this “epidemic of loneliness,” said rebuilding social connection must be a “national priority.” Read more here.
- The first pill for postpartum depression has been recently approved, but postpartum depression continues to slip through the cracks. For some parents, the period after birth can be one of the most difficult times of their lives, and the truth is, our health care system is not set up to support new mothers. Expectant mothers are seen at least monthly, sometimes even weekly, in preparation for delivery. However, after the baby is born, the recommended appointment with a medical professional isn’t for another six weeks. Read more here.
- Behavioral health patients need sleep. They also need to be checked on while they sleep to ensure their safety. This dichotomy is at the heart of the challenge that behavioral health providers face in their Q15s, or fifteen-minute patient safety checks, as these common psychiatric hospital practices can be counterproductive to patient care. Forward-thinking behavioral health providers are already finding ways to use technology to revolutionize rounding for the sake of patients. Understanding the connection between sleep, mental health conditions, and patient recovery can help providers as they embrace additional solutions that improve patient care. Read more here.
- State hospitals are on the rise. Several states are collectively putting billions into safety-net hospitals with ties to both the civil and justice systems. At the same time, the private sector struggles to convert demand for services into business opportunities. In the wake of Kennedy-era deinstitutionalization, investment in psychiatric hospitals, which care for those with the most dire and acute behavioral health issues, has fallen short of patient demand and need. Similarly, investment in community-based behavioral health and social services has not reached a level to allow for care in lower-acuity settings or prevent them altogether. Read more here.
- School counselors and psychologists have been in short supply throughout Jen Voge’s 25-year career, but the need seems greater now than ever. Student mental health problems are chronic in the COVID-19 era, with school disruptions and family illnesses taking a toll. At Bemidji High School, Voge handles a caseload of 600 students, over twice the recommended ratio but average for Minnesota. “Kids are saying ‘Hey, help me, I’m anxious. I’m crying in class, I don’t know what to do. I need to talk about this.’ And we don’t have the resources to talk to them,” says Voge. Read more here.
- Prescriptions for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have skyrocketed in Washington state and nationwide, driven largely by more adults and women seeking treatment. Greater recognition of how symptoms show up differently in women and girls is shifting who receives treatment for ADHD, which has historically been diagnosed more often in boys, according to Douglas Russell, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Seattle Children's Hospital. Reduced stigma around mental health issues, especially since the pandemic, also contributes. Read more here.
- Michigan will receive federal dollars to help them address youth mental health issues. The state will see about $3 million out of a total of $55 million that will be spread across the country and allocated by Congress. The funding comes from the Health Resources and Services Administration, a branch of the federal Department of Health and Human Services. Read more here.
- President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris announced the creation of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, saying the steps his administration is taking "will save lives." The office, which Harris will oversee, is intended to find a way around congressional inaction on stronger gun control laws, and to implement the president's executive orders on gun violence and the most recent gun legislation passed by Congress, the 2022 bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Read more here.
- Barden is the co-founder and CEO of the Sandy Hook Promise Action Fund, a gun-violence prevention group created by people who lost loved ones in the Sandy Hook shooting. The group released a new gun violence prevention PSA, featuring comedians Billy Eichner, Wanda Sykes, and Margaret Cho. Furthermore, the Biden administration announced the formation of the first-ever Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Guns are now the number one killer of children under the age of 18 in the United States, and gun-related deaths are at an all-time high in the country. Read more here.
The Opioid Crisis and Addiction Issues
- Addiction is a chronic-relapsing, midbrain disease. We have scientific evidence supporting addiction as a disease. Getting sober saved my life and helped me understand my identity as a transgender woman. The limbic system is an area of our brains that influences our motivations, behaviors, and arousal. Drugs like opioids, xylazine, stimulants (i.e., cocaine, crystal meth), nicotine, and alcohol overstimulate the limbic system, inciting a level of arousal or a high that causes the individual to have overbearing cravings or urges that lead to compulsive and often uncontrollable use. Read more here.
- The overdose crisis has reached historic levels in New York City, according to the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Provisional data shows there were 3,026 overdose deaths in New York City in 2022, the highest since the department began recording such incidents in 2000. New data shows that overdose deaths increased by 12% from 2021 to 2022. Fentanyl was detected in 81% of drug overdose deaths. The report found that Black and Latino New Yorkers had the highest rates of overdose death and the largest increases in rate from 2021 to 2022. Read more here.
- Employers bracing for a major hike in health care costs are retooling their benefits, aiming to provide perks better targeted to workers' needs as they closely mind the bottom line. Employer health costs are expected to see their largest jump in a decade, but many companies facing an ongoing workforce crunch are hesitant to pass along those costs or cut back benefits. In a recent Mercer survey of large employers, most identified mental health resources as one of their most valued benefits, perhaps unsurprisingly, given increasing demand and expectations from workers. Read more here.
- People who struggle with depression could face a higher risk of diabetes, according to new research from Diabetes U.K., a British charity that aims to improve the care and treatment of people with diabetes. The researchers discovered that people with a history of depression are more susceptible to developing type 2 diabetes, according to a press release from the organization. Previous research suggested that people with type 2 diabetes are twice as likely to struggle with depression compared to those without the condition, according to the organization. Read more here.
- Another 12,833 children were removed from Missouri’s Medicaid program in August, more than three-quarters of whom were terminated because of paperwork issues rather than being determined ineligible. August was the third month of the state reassessing the eligibility of every Medicaid participant, after a three-year COVID-era pause on the practice. The process will take place over a year. Around one-quarter of the state’s population is enrolled in Medicaid. According to newly released data from Missouri’s Department of Social Services, nearly half of all terminations from June through August were terminations of children’s Medicaid coverage. Read more here.
- Almost 900,000 Texans have lost Medicaid since April, and a backlog of applications has piled up, overwhelming the system and setting off a ripple effect that advocates worry is delaying families’ access to SNAP food benefits. During the pandemic, federal regulations prohibited states from removing people from Medicaid, and more than five million Texans were able to access healthcare continuously. However, these protections were lifted in April, and the state quickly began rechecking the eligibility of every individual in the program. In the months since the state launched this “unwinding,” hundreds of thousands have lost Medicaid coverage. Read more here.
Bans of Gender Affirming Care and LGTBQ Issues
- California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed several bills aimed at bolstering the state’s protections for LGBTQ+ people, a day after issuing a controversial veto that was criticized by advocates. The new laws include legislation that focuses on support for LGBTQ+ youth. “California is proud to have some of the most robust laws in the nation when it comes to protecting and supporting our LGBTQ+ community, and we’re committed to the ongoing work to create safer, more inclusive spaces for all Californians,” Newsom said in a statement. Read more here.
- Uruguay, Luxembourg, Brazil, Norway, Colombia, Malta, and Chile are the countries that best uphold the human rights of their LGBTQ+ citizens, according to a report released last week. Conspicuously off that list? The United States, which scored a C or “persecuting” grade when it comes to LGBTQ+ human rights on the Franklin & Marshall Global Barometers Report. The annual study, conducted by a partnership led by Franklin & Marshall College, gave more than half the world 62 percent, an F. Read more here.
- A Montana judge on Wednesday blocked enforcement of the state's recently enacted ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors, marking the latest ruling nationally in battles over state restrictions on treatments for transgender youth. Missoula County District Judge Jason Marks ruled that the law likely discriminated based on minors' transgender status and infringed on their privacy rights in violation of Montana's constitution. The law, known as Senate Bill 99, bans treatments such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery for transgender people under 18. Read more here.
- North Carolina’s Medicaid expansion will take effect after Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper announced he would let a long-awaited budget funding the program become law without his signature. Cooper’s announcement came shortly after the state legislature’s Republican supermajority gave its final stamp of approval Friday morning to a budget compromise. The move opens up the low-income health insurance program to an additional 600,000 people who currently make too much money to qualify. Read more here.
- CARE court, the result of legislation championed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, will allow first responders, family members, behavioral health providers, and others to directly petition the court for behavioral health services. If the court determines the subject qualifies for the program, it will order an individualized treatment plan that includes medication, housing placements, and wraparound services. Right now, "It's a fail-first system, not a care-first system, which means you have to end up in the criminal justice system before finally someone provides support and a bed and a solution," Newsom said on CBS News' "60 Minutes." Read more here.
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