December 2017 – Additional Mental Health and Related Articles and Information from around the Nation Wait for mental health treatment in Mass. can take months, study says The wait is especially long for children, those who need a psychiatrist, adults covered by Medicaid, and people who don’t speak English, a survey found. Continue reading →

Des Moines Register: Medicaid Cuts To Roughly 40,000 Iowans Approved By The Feds - Over the protests of hospitals and medical providers, Iowa has received federal approval to reduce coverage for new Medicaid beneficiaries. An estimated 40,000 Iowans are expected to be affected by the change, which will reduce their coverage for medical care delivered in the days and weeks before they are officially declared eligible for Medicaid. ... Historically, Iowa Medicaid has included a retroactive-eligibility provision that provides payment for health care services delivered in the three months leading to a person being formally declared eligible for Medicaid. (Kauffman, 10/31)

Iowa Public Radio: Change Of Course For Privatized Medicaid In Iowa: For-Profit Company Quits Nearly a quarter of a million patients covered by Medicaid, Iowa’s health care program for the poor, disabled, and elderly, are advised to watch the mail for a new insurance card. One of the three for-profit companies who have been managing the program since last year is pulling out. The Department of Human Services has been negotiating for months with the companies trying to agree on rates and terms for this year. Talks broke down with AmeriHealth Caritas. They will no longer be participating in the program. (Russell, 10/31)

If the homeless woman you saw were your mother, would you keep moving or step in to help? Columnist Steve Lopez takes another look at the problem of helping the gravely ill on the streets.

Des Moines Register: Obamacare Signups Start With Good News For Iowans Who Get Subsidies About 72,000 Iowans who buy their own coverage have just one carrier choice, Medica, for individual insurance policies next year. Two other carriers, Aetna and Wellmark Blue Cross & Blue Shield will no longer sell such policies here, because they said they lost too much money. Medica only agreed to stay in Iowa if it could raise premiums by an average of more than 57 percent. But more than 50,000 of the affected consumers, including Hanson, have incomes low enough to qualify them for subsidies that help pay premiums. The income limit for a single person is about $48,000. For a couple, it’s about $65,000. (Leys, 11/1)

California Healthline: Mental Health Of Transgender People Is Under Stress, Study Finds Diana Feliz Oliva, a 45-year-old transgender woman who grew up outside Fresno, Calif., remembers being bullied when she was younger and feeling confused about her gender identity. She was depressed and fearful about being found out, and she prayed every night for God to take her while she slept. “I was living in turmoil,” said Oliva, who now works as health program manager in a clinic for transgender people at St. John’s Well Child & Family Center in Los Angeles. “Every morning, I would wake up and I knew I would have to endure another day.” (Gorman, 11/2)

Denver Post: Treatment Center For Children In Pueblo Has License Revoked By State A mental health and substance abuse treatment center for children in Pueblo has had its license revoked following complaints that children were abused and underfed. El Pueblo Boys & Girls Ranch was shut down in September and has now had its license revoked, Colorado Department of Human Services spokeswoman Nourie Boraie said. (Nicholson, 11/1)

San Jose Mercury News: San Jose: A Youth Psych Center At Valley Medical Center? There’s been a severe shortage of inpatient psychiatric care facilities for troubled teens and youth for decades in Santa Clara County, and on Tuesday supervisors will hear a pitch to build a new specialty center on the Valley Medical Center campus to address that need. For years, kids who need short-term psychiatric hospitalization — usually because they’ve been deemed a hazard to themselves or others — have been shuttled to facilities in Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano and even Sacramento counties. (Kurhi, 11/1)

The Des Moines Register: Let Iowans Buy Medicaid Health Insurance Sen. Matt McCoy and Rep. John Forbes are exactly right. Iowans who cannot find affordable, private health insurance should be able to buy into Medicaid coverage. The

Page 1 of 12 proposal, unveiled last week by the two Democratic state lawmakers, is especially welcome now, as the state’s individual private insurance market is faltering. (11/1)

The Des Moines Register: Don't Accept Inferiority To Minnesota On Mental Health I asked my friend, Mary Neubauer, to send me some thoughts this week in connection with the announcement of a gubernatorial candidate forum on mental health. It was the story of her 18-year-old son, Sergei, that inspired this effort to elevate mental health as a priority for our state. (Kathie Obradovich , 11/1)

Youth Incarceration in the United States, Explained - Teen Vogue - Since its infancy, the United States has impacted children through the penal establishment. Youth incarceration has taken many different forms, from boarding schools for indigenous children, to institutions that aimed to “pray the gay away” for LGBTQ youth, funneling children into legalized second-class citizenship through Japanese internment camps, juvenile detention or underfunded schooling. More here.

Here's How Health Care Works for Kids Behind Bars - Teen Vogue - Youth involved in the justice system in America are among the neediest and most medically underserved adolescents in the entire country. Over two-thirds of incarcerated youth reported at least one need for health care, according to a survey cited by a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation on health care in the juvenile justice system. More here.

Des Moines Register: Skepticism Over Iowa’s Medicaid Math Led AmeriHealth To Pull Out Iowa state officials refused to provide data used to justify Medicaid payment rates to a private management company that canceled its contract with the state this week, according to documents obtained by the Des Moines Register. The state's response prompted AmeriHealth Caritas to accuse Iowa of using inaccurate information to justify low payments and ultimately resulted in AmeriHealth ending its 18-month run as one of three private companies managing the state’s $4.2 billion program, documents show. (Clayworth, 11/2)

Austin American-Statesman: How Texas Medicaid Is Failing Children With Disabilities Medicaid services for Texas children with some of the severest disabilities have sharply declined over the past few years after state leaders enacted several measures to cut costs. ... Between February and May, 12 percent of children with the severest disabilities were denied Medicaid services, triple the overall rate of 2016, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. “This therapy is crucial. It’s my only link to get my child back. It’s my only hope,” Jenny Robson said through tears. Her 10-year-old son, Ben Sears, who is covered by Medicaid, was hit by a truck outside of their Mueller home last year and has been denied weekly physical and occupational therapy, even though he’s unable to stand, talk or eat without a feeding tube. (Chang, 11/2)

The Hill: Patrick Kennedy: At Least $100 Billion Needed To Fight Opioids - Former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, a member of the president’s opioid commission, is calling for a robust infusion of federal funds to combat the opioid epidemic, to the tune of $100 billion over 10 years. In an interview with The Hill, Kennedy stressed he views that dollar figure “just as a starting point, at a minimum, minimum, minimum.” (Roubein, 11/2)

Health Affairs: Prevalence, Treatment, And Unmet Treatment Needs Of US Adults With Mental Health And Substance Use Disorders - We examined prevalence, treatment patterns, trends, and correlates of mental health and substance use treatments among adults with co-occurring disorders. Our data were from the 325,800 adults who participated in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health in the period 2008–14. ...Rates of receiving care only for mental health, receiving treatment only for substance use, and receiving both types of care among adults with co-occurring disorders remained unchanged during the study period. (Han, Compton, Blanco et. al., 10/1)

USA Today: Va. Case Shows Desperate Need To Put The Mentally Ill In Treatment, Not Prison Christopher Sharikas is serving two life sentences in a Virginia prison, plus 30 years, for a crime that carried a seven- to 11-year recommended term. He was 16 years old when he was arrested for stealing a car and assaulting its owner. He has spent 20 years behind bars. Arguably, his 1997 crime is not why he remains imprisoned. Sharikas suffers from severe mental illness. Our society has relinquished control of him to our criminal justice system. And our mental health system is so broken that it failed to help him when it should have. (Pete Earley, 11/2)

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TRICK OR TREAT: Why Treating Children Like Adults is S-C-A-R-Y - Marcy Mistrett - October 31 is Halloween. It is a time when some communities celebrate the childhood joys of fantasy and play, dressing up as our favorite heroes or villains, and confronting our fears of the darkness. More here.

ABLE Account Limit Set To Rise - The amount of money that people with disabilities can deposit in their ABLE accounts each year without jeopardizing eligibility for government benefits is about to increase. Read More >

Roll Call: House Volleys CHIP Measure To Senate - After months of disputes and delays, the House voted Friday to renew funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, community health centers and other public health programs. The legislation passed easily, 242-174, although many Democrats opposed the measure due to disagreements over the offsets. ... Advocacy organizations and state officials have been clamoring for Congress to act to extend funding for CHIP, community health centers and a number of other safety net programs. Most still had some money to keep operations going after the Sept. 30 expiration date, but officials are increasingly nervous about running out. In the case of CHIP, federal health officials have been funneling some leftover funds to the states that are in the most dire situations. (Raman, 11/3)

The Washington Post: Trump Says Texas Shooting Is A Problem Of Mental Health, Not Guns President Trump declared that the shooting in Sutherland Springs, Tex. that left at least 26 people dead was not “a guns situation,” saying instead he believed that “mental health” was the problem. Trump’s comments came at a news conference in Tokyo, when he was asked about the shooting at a South Texas church and if stricter gun laws were the answer. (Parker, 11/6)

The New York Times: Gun Death Rate Rose Again In 2016, C.D.C. Says - The rate of gun deaths in the United States rose in 2016 to about 12 per 100,000 people, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report released on Friday. That was up from a rate of about 11 for every 100,000 people in 2015, and it reflected the second consecutive year that the mortality rate in that category rose in the United States. (Hauser, 11/4)

Minnesota Public Radio: Brainerd Medical Center No Longer Admitting Civilly Committed Patients Citing a lack of beds and staffing concerns, a central Minnesota hospital says it's no longer accepting people committed by courts for psychiatric care. St. Joseph's Medical Center in Brainerd will admit to its 16-bed behavioral health center only those patients who are seeking treatment voluntarily. (Sepic, 11/3)

Minnesota Public Radio: As Mental Health Calls Rise, MN Police Training Takes On Vital Role Authorities say that expertise is crucial because of the growing number of police calls involving people who are in the throes of a mental health crisis when the squad cars roll up. Of the 14 Minnesotans shot and killed by police in 2016, six were in the throes of some kind of mental health crisis. (Lillie, 11/3)

3. Medicaid Chief Suggests Feds Are Willing Now To Approve Work Requirements - Seema Verma, the head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services tells state officials that she envisions changes that could include work requirements for Medicaid enrollees. (Phil Galewitz, 11/7)

4. Beyond Stigma And Bias, Many Transgender People Struggle With Mental Health - New data show transgender people are more likely to have suicidal thoughts and to attempt suicide. Public hostility toward them, including efforts to ban them from public bathrooms and military service, is making things worse, researchers say. (Anna Gorman, 11/7)

Richmond Times-Dispatch: Medicaid Costs To Rise By $671 Million, But Congress' Inaction On Children's Health Insurance Could Cost State Extra $195 Million - Virginia’s Medicaid program will cost the state an additional $670.6 million over three years, but it could have been worse — and it will be unless Congress acts soon to restore federal funding for children’s health insurance. The new forecast, compiled by the Department of Medical Assistance Services and made public Monday by Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s administration, provides the governor and the General Assembly a clearer road map for reaching the next two-year budget. It will be driven largely by the additional cost of Medicaid, K-12 education and building the state’s cash reserves to hedge against potential economic downturns. (Martz, 11/6)

The Des Moines Register: AmeriHealth's Exit Should Curtail Disabled Residents' Suit Against Iowa, State Lawyers Say - The departure of a controversial Medicaid management company should block a federal lawsuit against Iowa’s human- Page 3 of 12 services director, state lawyers say. The lawsuit was filed in June on behalf of six Iowans with disabilities, who argue that the state’s shift to private management of Medicaid led to illegal cuts to their in-home care services. The plaintiffs say without those services, they could be forced to move into nursing homes, violating their constitutional rights. The lawsuit is being spearheaded by the advocacy group Disability Rights Iowa, which has asked a federal judge to declare the suit a class-action case on behalf of about 15,000 Iowans with disabilities. ... The state lawyers noted in a court filing last week that AmeriHealth oversees Medicaid benefits for all six initial plaintiffs in the Disability Rights Iowa lawsuit. (Leys, 11/6)

12. Mental Illness Becomes Scapegoat After Mass Shootings, But The Truth Is Far More Nuanced, Experts Say - Saying mental illness is to blame for mass violence incidents not only misses the complexities at the root of the motivation, but also besmirches millions of non-violent mentally ill people, experts say in the wake of the Texas shooting which left 26 dead. President Donald Trump said the shooting was a "mental health" problem and not a "guns situation."

The Associated Press: Trump Calls Attackers ‘Deranged’ But Mental Health Link Weak - President Donald Trump called the Texas church shootings gunman “deranged,” the New York bike path attacker “a very sick and deranged person,” and the Las Vegas massacre shooter “a sick, demented man.” It’s a common reaction to mass violence — who in their right mind would commit these senseless crimes? The truth is more nuanced. (Tanner, 11/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: Trump Wrong To Blame Mass Killings On Mental Illness Rather Than Guns, Experts Say - President Trump on Monday attributed the slaughter of 26 people in a Texas church — the nation’s third mass killing in five weeks — to “a mental health problem,” saying it wasn’t a “guns situation.” ...Critics say blaming mass killings on “mental health problems” is not only medically inaccurate, it is politically disingenuous — a “fig leaf,” to make it appear that Trump is doing something about gun violence. (Garofoli, 11/6)

NPR: In Texas And Beyond, Mass Shootings Have Roots In Domestic Violence - In the wake of the massacre at a small- town Texas church on Sunday, many people are asking why. We know that a large portion of the mass shootings in the U.S. in recent years have roots in domestic violence against partners and family members. Depending on how you count, it could be upwards of 50 percent. (Fulton, 11/7)

Los Angeles Times: Gun Injuries In The U.S. Have Become More Severe Since The 1990s, Study Says If the purpose of a gun is to inflict serious damage to a body, then these weapons have become increasingly effective, new research shows. An analysis of U.S. hospital records shows that gun injuries bad enough to land a victim in the hospital grew more severe over the course of two decades. Wounds involving "serious open fractures" — trauma that pairs a break in the skin with a broken bone — increased by 0.61% per year between 1993 and 2013. Meanwhile, gun injuries classified as "minor" fell by 0.74% per year during the study period. (Kaplan, 11/6)

USA Today: Trump’s Right, This Is A Mental Health Issue - President Trump’s suggestion that the tragedy in Texas is a mental health issue rather than a gun issue deserves more than an arrogant dismissal by gun control proponents. There are roughly 90 million gun owners in the U.S. who responsibly own firearms of all kinds. They didn’t harm anybody on Sunday, and indeed one of those citizens courageously grabbed his own rifle and opened fire on the killer, causing him to drop his rifle and flee the scene. We have tried numerous restrictive gun control measures, and none has lived up to sales pitches about preventing violence. (Alan M. Gottlieb, 11/6)

USA Today: After Texas Shooting, Trump And Politicians Show How Mental They Are - Americans may someday look back in shame at a time when their country was awash in guns, when every few weeks people were slaughtered en masse and when society repeatedly mourned its dead, even as it facilitated their murder with easy access to powerful weapons. ... As shocking as the killings are, equally shocking is that the nation’s political leaders do nothing to stop them. Now, these leaders even want to deny that gun violence has anything to do with … guns. (11/6)

Is Trump sending mixed messages when blaming mental illness for Texas mass shooting? Mental healthcare advocates say claims that mental illness are the sole cause of mass shootings hinder efforts to seek effective solutions. The call to address the issue with more healthcare services is also counter to the White House's agenda. READ MORE

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The New York Times: Maine Voters Approve Medicaid Expansion, A Rebuke Of Gov. LePage Voters in Maine approved a ballot measure on Tuesday to allow many more low-income residents to qualify for Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act, The Associated Press said. The vote was a rebuke of Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican who has repeatedly vetoed legislation to expand Medicaid. At least 80,000 additional Maine residents will become eligible for Medicaid as a result of the referendum. (Goodnough, 11/7)

USA Today: State Medicaid Programs Can Require Work, Will Get Rated On How Well They Improve Health - More states can require Medicaid recipients to work — or at least "volunteer" — in one of the new ways the Trump administration plans to "help them break the chains of poverty," the nation's chief Medicaid official said Tuesday. The Obama administration, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma said, had the "soft bigotry of low expectations" by refusing to allow states to tie Medicaid benefits to employment. (O'Donnell, 11/7)

Des Moines Register: DHS Director Criticized For AmeriHealth's Departure From Iowa Medicaid Program - A Democratic legislator berated Iowa’s human-services director Tuesday for turmoil in the state’s Medicaid system, including the abrupt departure of one of three private companies hired to run the program. “I have no confidence in your ability to manage anything at this point,” Sen. Joe Bolkcom told Jerry Foxhoven, director of the Iowa Department of Human Services, during a Statehouse meeting. Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, demanded to know why AmeriHealth Caritas was leaving the Iowa market, with just 30 days’ notice. (Leys, 11/7)

Iowa Public Radio: Bitter Debate Over Shift In Care For Severely Disabled Iowans - Advocates for Iowa’s most severely disabled patients spoke out Tuesday about recent changes in the state’s privately-managed Medicaid program now in its second year. One of the for-profit companies managing the program has pulled out, and critics say the neediest patients may be harmed by having to change case managers and providers over a period of one month. (Russell, 11/7)

The New York Times: Texas Gunman Once Escaped From Mental Health Facility - The gunman behind the worst mass shooting in Texas history escaped from a psychiatric hospital while he was in the Air Force, and was caught a few miles away by the local police, who were told that he had made death threats against his superiors and tried to smuggle weapons onto his base, a 2012 police report showed. That episode, which came to light on Tuesday, was another in a series of red flags about the threat the gunman, Devin P. Kelley, posed to those around him. But none of the warnings stopped Mr. Kelley from legally purchasing several firearms, including the rifle he used to kill 26 people at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs on Sunday. (Romero, Blinder and Perez-Pena, 11/7)

Stat: Explore: How Many Young Doctors Does Your State Retain After Residency? Desperate to persuade young doctors to settle in rural areas — or just keep them from leaving the state — medical schools, hospitals, and state legislators are getting creative. They’re forgiving tens of thousands of dollars in loans, setting up mentorships, and recruiting med school grads with local ties in an effort to hold on to providers. ...But on this crucial metric, some states are faring far worse than others. California, with an abundance of space and jobs for doctors, retains 70 percent of residents and fellows trained in-state — compared to just 28 percent in tiny New Hampshire, where full-time physician jobs are few and leaving the state may only mean moving a short distance. (Robbins and Bronshtein, 11/9)

CT Mirror: State Watchdog: Schools Keeping Too Many Students Home Without Medical OK - An investigation by a state watchdog agency has found that “high numbers” of children have left public school for medical or mental health reasons – though only two-thirds of the absences had been authorized by the student’s health care provider, as required by state regulations. (Thomas, 11/9)

The Des Moines Register: After Four DUIs And Two Prison Stays, Now-Sober Lawyer Fights For Her Practice - As a student in the 1980s, Sandra Suarez was president of the Brody Middle School “Just Say No” club. It was named for former First Lady Nancy Reagan’s admonition to reject drugs and alcohol. It made perfect sense to the young Cuban- American girl, who had an alcoholic father and had witnessed what she calls “some of the ugliest things that no child should have to see.” She was so keen to get far away that she chose a college in Washington state. Her father stopped drinking after she left. Rekha Basu, 11/9)

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4 Tips to Make the Grade in Mental Health - Stress can take hold at any time for college students, and anxiety is a rising concern. Luckily, there are ways colleges are stepping up to help students (some involving furry friends), and there are ways students grappling with their mental wellness can find support.

BP Magazine: Ask the Doctor: Seasonal Affective Disorder and the Dread of Winter’s Depression BP Magazine: Bipolar Disorder and Autumn: Getting Through My Favorite and Worst Season The New York Times: Maria Bamford: The First Time Someone Loved Me for Who I Really Am Huffington Post: How to Deal With Stigmatizing Remarks About Mental Illness NPR: Brain Patterns May Predict People At Risk Of Suicide NBC News: Why Doctors Are Burning Out at an Alarming Rate Infographic: Tardive Dyskinesia: A Serious Side Effect Infographic: 5 Steps For Taking on Tardive Dyskinesia Trump Officials Approve Medicaid Waivers for Opioid Treatment The Hill—Nov. 1 | National

Time Spent in Solitary Confinement Drops Dramatically in Illinois Youth Facilities ProPublica Illinois—Oct. 26 | Illinois

California Turns to Vermont for Solution to Opioid Problem Record Searchlight—Oct. 24 | California

Clark County’s Recovery High School Helps At-Risk Pupils Las Vegas Review-Journal—Oct. 22 | Nevada

Statewide Database Helps Track Overdose Deaths in Pennsylvania Observer-Reporter— Oct. 22 | Pennsylvania

Opiate Treatment Program in Lucas County Jail Gets National Attention WTOL—Oct. 16 | Ohio

Study Finds Medicaid Expansion Tied to Reduction in Crime The Crime Report—Oct. 6 | National

Mental Health: How Alabama Is Responding Montgomery Advertiser—Oct. 6 | Alabama

Walton County Sheriff’s Office Helps Inmates Fight Addiction WJHG—Oct. 4 | Florida

Newly-Formed Sober Support Unit Will Help County Residents with Substance Use Disorders Oakland Press News— Oct. 3 | California

Des Moines Register: DHS Waited 30 Days To Disclose AmeriHealth's Possible Exit From Iowa's Medicaid Program - AmeriHealth gave state administrators 60 days’ notice that it intended to quit helping manage Iowa’s giant Medicaid program, but state officials waited 30 days to inform the public, a top administrator told legislators Wednesday. AmeriHealth’s abrupt departure from the system is happening because its leaders and state officials failed to agree on how much the company should be paid to cover care for about 215,000 poor or disabled Iowans. Many families and care-service providers are now scrambling to figure out what will happen when AmeriHealth members' coverage shifts to another company Dec. 1. (Leys, 11/8)

The New York Times: Are Mass Murderers Insane? Usually Not, Researchers Say If what people do is any reflection of who they are, then Devin P. Kelley, who slaughtered 26 churchgoers on Sunday in Texas, surely was a madman. Before the atrocity, he had attempted to sneak weapons onto an Air Force base after making death threats to his superiors, according to a local police report. In 2012, he had escaped from a mental hospital in New Mexico to which he had been sent after assaulting his wife and fracturing his stepson’s skull. (Carey, 11/8)

Concord Monitor: Former N.H. Chief Justice Urges Kids To REACT To Mental Illness John Broderick, a former chief justice on the Supreme Court, has crisscrossed the state for nearly two years, giving speeches and meeting students in an effort to destigmatize mental illness as part of the national Change Direction campaign. He’s given approximately 160 talks and spoken to some 20,000 people. But now there’s a new twist in his now familiar story. Broderick is now asking kids to REACT. The acronym stands for “Recognize” the signs of emotional suffering, “Express” concern and offer support, “Act now” and tell someone you trust, “Care enough” to follow up, and “Text” or call a number for extra support. (Duffort, 11/8)

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Des Moines Register: Troubled Iowa Teen's Progress Stalled Again By Private Medicaid Manager In his worst moments, Logan Polly kicked holes in walls, beat himself and attacked others. He threatened to kill his mother, filled his school locker with hoarded food, ran away often and stopped eating for days at a time. Back in April, the 14-year-old adopted teen’s prospects of a productive future seemed dim and getting dimmer. His hard-to-find treatment, funded by Medicaid, was at risk of being cut short. AmeriHealth Caritas, one of three firms Iowa hired to manage Logan's care, was trying to rein in the cost of his care, Tina Polly said. (Rood, 11/10)

The Associated Press: ‘There Was A Breakdown’: Inmate’s Suicide Leads To $7M Deal The family of a mentally ill woman who killed herself inside a Pennsylvania detention center in 2015 will receive $7 million after a lawsuit against the private company running the prison was settled, according to a lawyer handling the case. The recent settlement capped a case that began with a descent into depression and paranoia in Janene Wallace’s late twenties and eventually resulted in imprisonment, a nearly three-month stint in solitary confinement and finally, a death by hanging, family attorney David Inscho said. (Izaguirre, 11/11)

bp Magazine (Bipolar Disorder)

Food Fight: 9 Strategies To Help Maintain Your Mood & Weight Click Here for Content & Images: bphope.com/partners-this-month/

esperanza (Depression & Anxiety) Amanda Seyfried on Anxiety: Tips for Keeping Calm

Click Here for Content & Images: hopetocope.com/partners-this-month/

Special Ed Enrollment Surges In Texas - Texas enrolled its largest number of students in special education last year, the same year the state officially got rid of an arbitrary cap on how many kids could receive such services. Read More >

Some States Roll Back ‘Retroactive Medicaid,’ A Buffer For The Poor — And For Hospitals - The retroactive payments provide protection for poor patients who can be enrolled in Medicaid after becoming seriously ill. That enrollment process takes time, and the look-back provision helps guarantee coverage they would have been entitled to if they had enrolled earlier. (Michelle Andrews, 11/14)

The Associated Press: Man: Psychiatric Hospital Staff Tormented, Kicked Brother - A man who says his brother was abused repeatedly by staff at Connecticut's only maximum-security psychiatric hospital urged lawmakers on Monday to look more deeply into the case and make changes at the state-run facility. Al Shehadi said he came forward to give a name to the victim at the center of internal and criminal investigations, to tell his brother's story and to "encourage this committee to continue to investigate what happened." (11/13)

The Des Moines Register: Good Riddance, AmeriHealth: One Private Medicaid Insurer Down, Two To Go - Goodbye, AmeriHealth Caritas. Don’t let Iowa’s door hit you on the backside after abruptly abandoning your contract with the state to manage the health care of more than 200,000 Medicaid beneficiaries. (11/13)

Clinton calls for mental health to be taught in schools - Hillary Clinton on Monday called on mental health professionals to create a standardized curriculum to teach middle and high school students nationwide about anxiety and depression. READ MORE

The New York Times: Republicans May Target Entitlement Programs To Reduce Deficit Republican lawmakers have largely dismissed concerns about how their $1.5 trillion tax cut will add to the federal deficit. Now, some Democrats are warning the tax rewrite will ultimately be financed by gutting entitlement programs Page 7 of 12 like Social Security and Medicare. The possibility of cuts to safety net programs appeared more likely on Tuesday, as the Congressional Budget Office warned that the tax bill could set off an arcane budget rule that would make deep cuts to Medicare over the next decade. (Rappeport, 11/15)

Columbus Dispatch: Mnuchin A Little Shaky On A Couple Of Facts During Columbus Visit When asked if cuts to entitlements such as Medicare are needed to help pay for a Republican tax-cut plan, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin replied Tuesday in Columbus: “I don’t anticipate that to be the case.” But a few hours later, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Medicare cuts probably would be needed because of the tax revamp unless Congress waives the 2010 “pay as you go” law or takes other action. The budget office found that $136 billion in automatic budget cuts — including a 4 percent, or $25 billion, reduction in Medicare health care for seniors — would be required next year to offset the increase in the national deficit stoked by the planned tax cut. (Ludlow, 11/14)

NPR: Increased Hours Online Correlate With An Uptick In Teen Depression, Suicidal Thoughts A study published Tuesday in the journal Clinical Psychological Science finds that increased time spent with popular electronic devices — whether a computer, cell phone or tablet — might have contributed to an uptick in symptoms of depression and suicidal thoughts over the last several years among teens, especially among girls. (Neighmond, 11/14)

Arizona Republic: Behavioral-Health Facility Makes Third Attempt To Build In Gilbert A behavioral-health center twice rejected in Gilbert is trying again. Kentucky-based Springstone proposes to open Copper Springs East near other medical facilities, including Mercy Gilbert Hospital. In 2013, residents twice defeated the proposed facility, saying it would be too close to neighborhoods and an elementary school. (Mo, 11/14)

FiercePharma: With New Digital Abilify, Big Brother Isn't Watching—But Your Mother Could Be - A new digital version of Abilify is the first-ever pill to notify patients that they've swallowed it. It may be the first in a wave of dose-tracking drugs that could appeal to patients who forget to take their pills and to payers looking to get their money's worth out of their members' prescriptions. The pill and its digital companions, now FDA-approved as Abilify MyCite, aren't likely to make a big difference to Otsuka's Abilify sales—certainly not immediately, given its plans for a limited initial launch. The atypical antipsychotic drug is already available as a cheap generic, and doctors are already using an injectable, long- lasting version—Abilify Maintena—to manage patients who have problems sticking to a daily pill regimen. Payers may be wary of the costs. (Staton, 11/14)

The Des Moines Register: Work For Medicaid? Health Care Ensures People Are Well Enough To Get A Job - President Lyndon B. Johnson may have rolled over in his grave when Seema Verma quoted him last week. The administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was outlining her philosophy on Medicaid in a speech to state health care officials. She announced states will, for the first time, be allowed to impose work requirements on low-income Americans who rely on the government health insurance. Verma is catering to a handful of Republican governors who want to require employment or participation in job programs to qualify for coverage. (11/14)

Columbus Dispatch: Restore Federal Funding For Children’s Health Care - Nearly a quarter of a million Ohio children are at risk of losing their health-care coverage this holiday season — that is, unless Congress acts. For the past 20 years, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) has provided health care coverage to millions of uninsured children. In Ohio, the state’s CHIP program, commonly known as Healthy Start, provides coverage to an estimated 223,583 children. Yet, in a move that has all the makings of a modern-day Ebenezer Scrooge, the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress recently failed to reauthorize funding for CHIP, allowing funding for the program to lapse at the end of September. More than a month later, Congress still has not restored funding. (Kay Wilson, 11/14)

Kansas City Star: Rep. Jenkins, Don’t Let Congress Make Kansas’ Tax Mistake - This week, Congress — including Kansas Rep. Lynn Jenkins — is considering tax legislation with far reaching consequences. According to analysis from the nonpartisan Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, many middle-class families will see tax increases, while the wealthiest 1 percent get an average tax cut of more than $64,000 by 2027. But what’s most striking is how much this plan resembles Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s disastrous 2012 tax experiment. Like that plan, the current congressional proposal slashes the income tax rate for the wealthy and cuts the top rate for “pass-through” income earned by wealthy individuals, including President Donald Trump. We all know what happened here at home: We plunged into a statewide budget crisis and saw deep funding cuts for education, health care, infrastructure and environmental protection. (Sarah LaFrenz, 11/14)

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Man with ‘classic serial killer’ profile captured in California after escaping Hawaiian mental hospital - Officials said the “violent psychopath” was on the loose in the U.S. mainland after escaping from a mental hospital in Hawaii and boarding a plane. By Cleve R. Wootson Jr. • Read more »

2017 Children's Mental Health Report - A look at the teenage years, highlighting unique factors that make adolescence exciting, important, and potentially dangerous. READ MORE ▸

Talking to Teens About the Brain, Behavior and Risk - How to start a conversation that can help kids make better decisions for themselves. READ MORE ▸

What Are the Symptoms of Depression in Teenagers? - Signs your child might be more than moody, and might need help. READ MORE ▸

How to Talk to Your Teen About Substance Use - Research shows that clear rules, even if they are sometimes broken, help keep kids safe. READ MORE ▸

How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers - Experts say kids are growing up with more anxiety and less self-esteem. READ MORE ▸

Des Moines Register: UnityPoint Tells Medicaid Patients They May Need To Find New Providers - UnityPoint Health has told approximately 54,000 of its Medicaid patients they may need to change their health plan or find different health care providers at the start of the year. UnityPoint in a statement said it has been unable to reach an agreement in its contract negotiations with Amerigroup of Iowa, which is one of the two private managed care companies Iowa has contracted with to manage the state's Medicaid program. (Pfannenstiel, 11/15)

The Washington Post: The GOP Is Trading 13 Million People’s Health Care For Corporate Tax Cuts - To finesse the tricky politics and brutal math of tax reform, Senate Republicans say that they want to repeal the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate. For Republicans, repeal would be a trifecta: a blow to Obamacare, a money-saver for the federal government and a way to finance a permanent cut to the corporate tax rate. (Nicholas Bagley, 11/15)

What it Feels Like to be a Teen in Solitary Confinement - Teen Vogue - Jaki Murillo was 12 years old when she first entered the juvenile justice system in California. When she was 9, she tells Teen Vogue, she was arrested for making “terrorist threats” after telling a teacher that she was going to send her uncles to hurt the teacher; she was then put on probation. More here.

It's time to close all youth prisons - The Washington Post - Two investigative reports published this month detail shocking conditions in youth prisons in Florida and South Carolina. The Miami Herald meticulously chronicled Florida’s Department of Juvenile Justice staff arranging violent bouts between youths and bribing them to beat up other incarcerated youths. More here.

It’s Time To Reimagine the Juvenile Justice System, Once And For All – GOOD - It’s no secret: Rikers Island is one of the worst jails in America. Mother Jones says it “has it all: inmate violence, staff brutality, rape, abuse of adolescents and the mentally ill, and one of the nation’s highest rates of solitary confinement.” More here.

The New York Times: What States Can Learn From One Another On Health Care We know that where you live matters: There are huge disparities in health and costs across the country. The uninsured rate in Texas is six times higher than in Massachusetts. You’re four times more likely to be readmitted to the hospital in Maryland or New Jersey than in Hawaii. One-third of low-income adults in Texas forgo medical care because of cost, but only 9 percent in Vermont do. Alaska spends twice as much on health care per person as Utah does. (Dhruv Khullar, 11/16)

A violent, mentally ill man begged in vain for medication, lawsuit says. Then three people were killed.

Des Moines Register: Iowa Medicaid Starts Paying For Mental Crisis Centers, After Centerville Program Closes - Iowa human-services officials have opened a pipeline for Medicaid money to support informal mental-health crisis centers, shortly after a lack of Medicaid money contributed to the closure of a heralded southern-Iowa program. Centerville’s Oak Place center closed Oct. 31, despite widespread praise. The “crisis stabilization” center offered an informal alternative for residents with mental-health problems, many of whom otherwise would be transported to faraway hospital psychiatric units. (Leys, 11/17) Page 9 of 12

The Washington Post: Teenage Depression And Suicide Are Way Up — And So Is Smartphone Use - Around 2012, something started going wrong in the lives of teens. In just the five years between 2010 and 2015, the number of U.S. teens who felt useless and joyless — classic symptoms of depression — surged 33 percent in large national surveys. Teen suicide attempts increased 23 percent. Even more troubling, the number of 13-to-18-year-olds who committed suicide jumped 31 percent. (Jean Twenge, 11/19)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Kids Are Hurt By State's Mental Health System To make residential treatment systems work, we need to treat the system like a complex of group homes, not a large reformatory. We are warehousing human beings, not treating them. (Eli Gottifried, 11/17)

The Hill: Facing 'Hard Decisions,' Health Centers Plead For Restored Funding Community health centers are scrambling to make contingency plans as they anxiously wait to see if Congress will renew billions of dollars in federal funding that expired on Sept. 30. Often situated in medically underserved areas, the health centers provide care to some 26 million of the nation’s most vulnerable people. They’re required to take any patient who seeks care, regardless of whether they can pay. (Roubein, 11/21)

Roll Call: States Face Children’s Health Coverage Uncertainty - About two months after federal funding lapsed for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, state officials still don’t know exactly when they’ll run out of money or when Congress will renew funding — leaving families that depend on the program increasingly anxious about their benefits. At least a few states say that they could exhaust funds as soon as next month. States are growing more concerned about the program with just a few days left on the congressional calendar until December and no signs that lawmakers plan in the immediate future to renew funding. (Raman, 11/20)

CQ: Funding Cuts To Hospitals Imminent Unless Congress Acts - Billions of dollars in cuts to a federal program that helps hospitals cover the cost of caring for the uninsured will begin to take effect in a matter of weeks if Congress does not delay them. The House recently included a postponement in cuts to what's known as disproportionate share hospital, or DSH, payments in its bill to reauthorize funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (HR 3922). But the Senate hasn't followed suit thus far, leaving hospitals in the dark about whether they will start to see funding slashed in the first quarter of 2018. (Williams, 11/20)

How to Talk to Kids About Sexual Harassment - Tips for handling this important conversation. READ MORE ▸

Helping Girls Deal With Unwanted Attention - How parents can arm daughters to protect both their safety and their boundaries. READ MORE ▸

How to Talk to Kids About Sex and Consent - Setting your own boundaries and respecting those of others are both important. READ MORE ▸

Teaching Kids About Boundaries - How to help kids express their own limits, and respect the limits of others READ MORE ▸

Teens and Romantic Relationships - Some DOs and DON'Ts to share with your teens to help them develop healthy relationships. READ MORE ▸

Signs of Sexual Abuse in Children and Adolescents - Kids may be too ashamed to talk, so caregivers must be alert. READ MORE ▸

13 hospitals join CMS' rural pay experiment The CMS has expanded an experiment that pays rural hospitals the actual cost of care versus standard Medicare rates. Executives say the funds are key to ensure quality care. READ MORE

Los Angeles Times: Self-Harm Rises Sharply Among Tween And Young Teen Girls, Study Shows For girls navigating the straits of adolescence and young adulthood, there are new signs of serious emotional trouble. From 2009 to 2015, the nation's emergency rooms saw a sharp rise in treatment of girls 10 to 24 who intentionally injured themselves. But inside that increasing trend of girls and young women harming themselves — a yearly hike of 8.4% in ER visits over six years — lies an even more alarming statistic: Among girls 10 to 14 years old, rates of ER visits for treatment of self-harm surged 18.8% yearly between 2009 and 2015. (Healy, 11/21) Page 10 of 12

The Washington Post: More Middle-School Girls Are Inflicting Self-Pain. Experts Say It Might Be Because Of Smartphones - Self-harming behaviors like ingesting poisons, cutting and overdosing on drugs are strong indicators of suicide — the second-leading cause of death among people between 10 and 24 in 2015, according to data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, reported in a letter Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association. Suicide rates for both teenage boys and girls are on the rise. But the number of emergency room visits for boys ages 10 to 24 with nonfatal self-inflicted injuries has remained stable in recent years, while the number of visits for girls in that age group surged, according to the data. (Eltagouri, 11/21)

Des Moines Register: 215,000 Iowans Left With 1 Medicaid Choice After Provider Says It Can't Take More Patients - One of the two remaining companies that manage Iowa’s Medicaid program says it can’t take any of AmeriHealth Caritas' 215,000 clients, leaving those recipients with only one option for their care. Critics say that may jeopardize some patients' care if their doctors are not covered by the one Medicaid provider left to them. (Clayworth, 11/21)

Nowhere To Go: Young People With Severe Autism Languish In Hospitals By Christina Jewett - Some teens and young adults are spending weeks or even months in retrofitted emergency rooms — even in mesh-covered tents — until specialized care can be found. ‘It’s a huge problem,’ one doctor says.

Unintended consequences: CMS' readmissions program might be harming patients - Overall, the CMS' Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program has motivated hospitals to change wasteful care practices. But health policy experts wonder if the tactics hospitals have adopted might not always be in the best interest of patients. READ MORE

CMS moves to reduce Medicaid spending on medical equipment - The CMS will ask the White House to allow it to evaluate whether states are overpaying for medical equipment in comparison to Medicare rates. Medical equipment providers say the crackdown comes as they are already struggling financially. READ MORE

North Carolina seeks to widen Medicaid network by paying docs' debt - Ahead of its move to managed care, North Carolina is seeking federal funds to pay the debt of doctors willing to work with Medicaid enrollees and boost its recruitment efforts. The state has also sought to impose work requirements and premiums on Medicaid beneficiaries. READ MORE

USDA loaning $2.2M to expand Maine healthcare - U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue earlier in the week announced the agency would give more than $1 billion to healthcare organizations in rural areas of 41 states. READ MORE

Senate GOP tax bill hurts the poor more than originally thought, CBO analysis finds - The new Congressional Budget Office study shows large, harmful impacts to families earning $30,000 or less from the Senate GOP tax bill by 2019, and by 2027 those earning $75,000 or less would be worse off. By Heather Long • Read more »

Politico Pro: Patient Deaths: Unintended Consequence Of Quality Measurement? As the country struggles with its nearly $3 trillion annual health care budget, policymakers have tried to tie payments to quality scores. ... In response, doctors and scholars say, many providers are avoiding patients who might make them look bad or cost them money. (Pittman, 11/27)

The Washington Post: From Pills To Psychotherapy, Treating Depression Often Lies In A Gray Zone - Depression afflicts an estimated 16 million Americans every year, many of whom go to their doctors in despair, embarking on an often stressful process about what to do next. These visits may entail filling out forms with screening questions about symptoms such as mood changes and difficulty sleeping. Doctors may ask patients to share intimate details about such issues as marital conflicts and suicidal urges. Some patients may be referred to mental-health specialists for further examination. Once diagnosed with depression, patients frequently face the question: “Are you interested in therapy, medications or both?” (Morris, 11/25)

NPR: Light Therapy Might Help People With Bipolar Depression - As the months grow colder and darker, many people find themselves somewhat sadder and even depressed. Bright light is sometimes used to help treat the symptoms of seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. Researchers are now testing light therapy to see if it also can help treat depression that's part of bipolar disorder. It's unclear how lack of light might cause the winter blues, although some suggest that the dark days affect the production of serotonin in the skin. (Neighmond, 11/27)

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The Washington Post: Pulling Your Hair Or Picking At Skin Can Be Signs Of Serious Disorders Lucy Harper, 17, a high school junior who lives in College Station, Tex., has been picking at her skin for as long as she can remember. When she was in seventh grade, she also started pulling out her hair. “For a while my skin picking was under the radar, but it was because I was pulling my hair,” she says. “If I wanted my skin to clear up, I’d stop picking and start pulling. If I wanted my hair to grow back, I’d stop pulling and start picking.” (Cimons, 11/26)

The Washington Post: Having Trouble Sleeping? It Is Not Just Because Of Aging. Many older adults have sleep problems that can be caused by aging. But other issues also contribute to the prevalence of sleep complaints, and they should be discussed and investigated, experts say. A national poll conducted by the University of Michigan and released in October found that almost half of those 65 and older have trouble getting to sleep, and more than a third are taking prescription or over-the-counter sleep aids. (Sadick, 11/26)

The New York Times: When A Tax Cut Costs Millions Their Medical Coverage - Though their ham-fisted attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act failed in September, Republican lawmakers and the Trump administration won’t give up on efforts that would take away health care from millions of people. They’re now out to do it through the equally sloppy and cruel tax bills barreling through Congress. The Senate could vote as soon as next week on a bill that, according to one government estimate, would increase the number of people who don’t have health insurance by 13 million and cause insurance companies to raise premiums substantially. (11/24)

Out of Jail, Onto the Streets: Can the Cycle Be Broken? How do you keep newly released inmates from ending up in jail again? A new effort at the Los Angeles County Men’s Central Jail is trying to do so by focusing on a small group of the mentally ill and substance abusers who are usually homeless too. With public and private money, the strategy — called “jail in-reach” — makes it a condition of probation that they enter an interim housing program designed to lead to permanent housing with medical and mental health support.

Editorial: Tax the sick, punish the poor - The Senate returns from its Thanksgiving break intent on passing some version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the House-backed bill that taxes the sick and punishes the poor to reward those who benefit most from America's bounty. READ MORE

Inside One Family's Supreme Court Fight Over IDEA Read More >

Autism Odds Tied To Birth Spacing, Study Finds - Waiting too long — or not long enough — between pregnancies appears to increase a child's risk of developing autism, according to a new study led by researchers at the CDC. Read More >

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