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Meta-Analysis Finds No Association Between Stimulants for ADHD and New, Worsening Tics
CBT Reduces Insomnia in Patients With Co-Occurring Psychiatric Conditions
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Government and Psychiatry
GOP Seeks To Challenge “Confident” White House On ACA.
National Journal (7/8, Subscription Publication) reports that the “White House is sounding confident” in the wake of the Supreme Court decision to uphold the ACA, but congressional Republicans “are not going to leave the law alone.” In particular, GOP lawmakers are seeking to repeal the law’s medical device tax and the Independent Payment Advisory Board. National Journal says the Obama Administration “will have to decide whether its renewed swagger means it can reject anything and everything the GOP comes up with, whatever the circumstances.” While the Supreme Court ruling makes it easy for the President to reject stand-alone repeal bills, the White House may be willing to sacrifice part of the ACA if the “GOP instead tries to attach anti-Obamacare provisions to must-pass legislation.”
Editorial: VA Wait Times Getting Worse As Department Faces Budget Shortfall.
A New York Times (7/8, Board, Subscription Publication) editorial says that despite “strenuous efforts” to reduce delays endured by patients in hospitals operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs, “the number of veterans on waiting lists of one month or more is now 50 percent higher than at the height of last year’s crisis.” The Times calls on Congress to address the VA’s expected budget shortfall of $2.5 billion, which it says will only exacerbate the problem.
California Advocates Seek To Expand Medi-Cal To Adults In The Country Illegally.
Kaiser Health News (7/8) reports that the budget deal announced by California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) last month will extend Medi-Cal coverage to an estimated 170,000 children who are in the country illegally. But while policymakers and advocates praised the change, “they also said the new coverage is limited because it doesn’t guarantee access to doctors and doesn’t include adults.” According to the article, about 1.16 million low-income adults are in California illegally and are thus ineligible for Medicaid. State Sen. Ricardo Lara (D) “has proposed legislation that could extend Medi-Cal to low-income adults living in the state illegally, depending on available funding.”
Delaware Law Will Require Insurers To Pay For Telemedicine.
Modern Healthcare (7/8, Subscription Publication) reports that Delaware on Tuesday became the 29th state “to require health insurers to pay for telemedicine after the state’s governor approved an updated law regulating the virtual services.” Gov. Jack Markell (D) signed House Bill 69 into law yesterday, defining state rules regarding telemedicine and prohibiting insurers from discriminating against healthcare professionals who use telemedicine. The American Telemedicine Association “applauded the move,” but Mario Gutierrez, executive director of the National Telehealth Policy Resource Center, “had some concerns about the law’s differentiation between telemedicine and telehealth, the latter being the use of technology for social services, remote patient monitoring or other non-clinical procedures.”
Advocates Say KanCare Is Cutting Services For Disabled Residents.
The Topeka (KS) Capital-Journal (7/8) reports that Kansas’ privatized Medicaid program “is drastically cutting care to the most vulnerable residents in the state, disabled Kansans told the National Council on Disability, a federal agency that advises the president and Congress, during hours of testimony Tuesday.” Advocates joined healthcare professionals and Federal and state officials in the Statehouse yesterday morning, arguing that disabled residents have seen a reduction in services under KanCare. The article notes KanCare began in 2013, and three “companies — Amerigroup, Sunflower Health Plan and UnitedHealthcare — were hired under three-year contracts.”
OIG: Maryland Owes Federal Government $34M Over Medicaid Billing Errors.
The Baltimore Sun (7/8) reports that the HHS Office of Inspector General “has found that Maryland incorrectly billed Medicaid for services for the developmentally disabled in hundreds of thousands of cases and that the state owes the U.S. government more than $34 million, according to an audit” released Tuesday. The investigation found the state did not ensure that recipients met requirements for “add-on” services such as physical therapy or overnight, in-home help. In a response to the report, “the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene blamed confusion surrounding the requirements on a grammatical error in its agreement with the federal government.”
CMS Recertifies Ancora Psychiatric Hospital In New Jersey.
The Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger (7/8, Livio) reports that the “Ancora Psychiatric Hospital in rural Camden County,” NJ, “has passed its most recent inspection, sparing it the loss of future funding.” Reina Becnel, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, “said Tuesday that Ancora ‘was revisited and found in compliance.’” Therefore, “the threat of termination from Medicare ‘has been rescinded.’”
The Camden (NJ) Courier Post (7/8, Mulford) reports that the CMS “pulled Ancora’s certification June 22 because the hospital failed to address multiple deficiencies found during an annual site visit in April.” On July 3, “the hospital’s certification was reinstated...said Nicole Brossoie, a spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services.” Because “the certification is retroactive to June 22...there will be no gap in federal funding, Brossoie added.”
Opinion: Texas Counties Should Support YES Waiver.
In an op-ed for the Dallas Morning News (7/8), Erin Espinosa, PhD, a research associate at the Texas Institute for Excellence in Mental Health in the School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin, writes that the conservation about Medicaid in Texas must “discuss a cost-neutral Medicaid waiver called the 1915c Youth Empowerment Services (YES) Waiver.” Espinosa encourages counties to support the “statewide rollout of the YES Waiver,” which covers services “not typically covered by Medicaid” for children with “serious mental-health needs.” She adds, “Through the YES Waiver, mental health organizations across Texas can build partnerships, giving them the opportunity to find creative ways to use resources locally.”
Psychiatry and Public Health
Report: Colorado Needs A 90% Increase In State Psychiatric Beds Over Next Decade.
The Denver Post (7/8, Brown) reports that the state-run Colorado Mental Health Institute at Fort Logan is experiencing an increase in patients who are severely affected by bipolar disorder, psychosis and schizophrenia, even though staffing ratios remain the same. Patients who are not as severely ill and who are more stable are sent to community mental health centers for treatment because there are not enough psychiatric beds available at the hospital. A consultants’ report completed in June for the Colorado Department of Human Services suggests that Colorado needs an 90 percent increase in state psychiatric facility beds over the next decade.
Study: Teens Who See Ads For Medical Marijuana May Be Much More Likely To Use The Drug.
In continuing coverage, HealthDay (7/8, Preidt) reports a RAND Corp. study published online recently in the journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors suggests teenagers who “see ads for medical marijuana are much more likely to use the drug.” Researchers working on the study “looked at more than 8,200 students in grades 6, 7 and 8 at 16 middle schools in Southern California in 2010 and 2011.”
Study Looks At Which Patients Prescribed Short Course Of Narcotic Painkillers May Be Most Prone To Long-Term Abuse.
HealthDay (7/8, Mozes) reports that research published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings “looks at which patients prescribed a short course of narcotic painkillers may be most prone to long-term abuse.” The research “finds – perhaps not surprisingly – that people with prior histories of drug abuse, or current or former smokers, were much more likely to go beyond that short-term prescription.”
Weight-Based Bullying Perceived To Be A Common Problem.
The New York Times (7/8, Rabin) “Well” blog reports that a “cross-national study” published online July 6 in the journal Pediatric Obesity Investigates “weight-based bullying.” After surveying “the views of 2,866 adults in the United States, Canada, Iceland and Australia,” researchers found that “at least 70 percent of participants in all of the countries perceived weight-based bullying to be a common problem, with 69 percent characterizing it as a ‘serious’ or even ‘very serious’ problem.”
APA in the News
Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities Pushing Back At Proposed CMS Quality Metrics.
Modern Healthcare (7/8, Dickson, Subscription Publication) reports that “inpatient psychiatric facilities are pushing back at attempts by the CMS” to implement “new quality metrics that will affect psychiatric facility payments starting in fiscal 2018.” While some behavioral health facilities have “jeered” the proposed measures, particularly those regarding tobacco use treatment, “others were thrilled with the quality measure recommendations.” For example, American Psychiatric Association CEO Saul Levin, MD, said, “Given the prevalence of tobacco use among persons with mental illness and the detrimental effects of tobacco use on overall health, the (American Psychiatric Association) is in full agreement that clinicians should provide tobacco use screening and offer treatment.” Dr. Levin added, “While inpatient psychiatric facilities may not be primarily established to provide substance use treatment, the lack of such treatment during periods of hospitalization impedes the effectiveness of psychiatric treatment and the likelihood of recovery.”
Other News
Small Study: Young Adults Concerned About Health Insurance Costs.
Reuters (7/8, Rapaport) reports that a small study suggests that while many young adults are concerned about the cost of health insurance, they often don’t understand out-of-pocket costs and how they can add up. The young adults who participated in the study saw paying for coverage as the main disadvantage of buying insurance, but nearly half of them were unable to define “deductible.” Seventy-eight percent incorrectly defined “co-insurance.” Lead researcher Dr. Charlene Wong of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania, stated, “Their confusion over these basic terms can have real consequences on their cost exposure down the road.”
Small Study: Higher Levels Of Dopamine May Increase Risk-Taking Behaviors In Healthy People.
HealthDay (7/8, Preidt) reports that research suggests that “higher levels of the brain chemical dopamine may increase risk-taking behaviors in healthy people.” Investigators found that “raising dopamine levels in healthy adults led to them taking greater risks when gambling.” Prior studies have “linked drugs that increase dopamine, such as L-DOPA, with compulsive gambling in” patients with Parkinson’s disease. The results of the 30-participant study were published July 8 in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Tuesday's Lead Stories
• Neuroimaging Studies Reveal Differences In Brain Function Between Patients With Unipolar And Bipolar Depression. • Treating Kids In War Zones For Anxiety, Depression May Benefit Long-Term Behavior, Mental Health. • Congressional Republicans Consider Senate Vote To Repeal Medical Device Tax. • Substance Abuse Treatment Centers In New Hampshire Put Expansion Plans On Hold Amid Medicaid Uncertainty. • Study: Antipsychotic Use On The Rise Among Teens. • CMS, Physician Group Announce Changes To Ease ICD-10 Transition. • Study: Humans Age At Remarkably Different Rates. made publicly available on APA's website.
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