MHA Society for Behavioral Health

State depression, suicide rates vary with access to care

Mental Health America, formerly the National Mental Health Association, on Nov. 29 released a report ranking states’ depression and suicide rates. The proportion of state residents reporting a major depressive episode in the past year ranged from 7% in South Dakota to 10% in Utah.

Annual state suicide rates ranged from six per 100,000 residents in New York to 23 per 100,000 in Alaska. Better access to mental health resources was associated with better depression status and lower suicide rates.

States with full mental health parity coverage had access rates that exceeded those with limited or no parity by about 20%.

[ via AHA News Now ]

States vary in how they administer Medicaid mental health services

States have taken various approaches to expanding Medicaid to cover mental health services, according to a new report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. In 28 states, state Medicaid and mental health agencies are within the same umbrella agency. In 26 states, the state match for Medicaid mental health services comes at least partly from a different source than the state general fund. Most states restrict Medicaid providers of mental health services to those with a mental health designation.

Federal mental health parity measure faces roadblocks

Federal mental health parity legislation - designed to require health plans to cover mental illnesses on an equal basis with physical illnesses - has made meaningful progress of late. However, it's beginning to look as though differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill could stall negotiations and prevent the bill's passage this year.

The House bill includes a broader definition of conditions health plans must cover, and would take effect on January 1, 2008, while the Senate bill is more narrowly drawn and would take effect one year after the bill is signed. Not only that, lawmakers estimate that the House bill could generate $4 billion in costs, something they'll have to cover if it moves forward.

The House Ways and Means Committee may allocate this funding to offset cuts in physician Medicare reimbursement instead, observers say.

To find out more about the debate, read this Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report item.

[ via Fierce Healthcare ]

AHRQ: More patients hospitalized with secondary depression

The number of hospital stays with a secondary diagnosis of depression increased 166% from 1995-2005 to 2.47 million, according to a new report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The number of hospital stays with a primary diagnosis of depression remained relatively stable over the same period, at 423,300 in 2005, nearly half of whom were adults under age 45.

Nearly one in 10 hospital admissions were related to depression, and nearly six in 10 patients hospitalized principally for depression were women.

[ via AHA News Now ]

Pictures from the 2007 annual meeting

See all of the pictures from our 2007 annual meeting here.

NIH: 1 in 7 older Americans has dementia

An estimated one in seven Americans over 70 have dementia, including 2.4 million who have Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

“As the population ages during the next few decades, the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease will increase several-fold unless effective interventions are discovered and implemented,” said Richard Hodes, M.D., director of the National Institute on Aging. “These data underscore the urgency of research in this area.”

AHRQ: 17% of patients hospitalized for drug abuse are uninsured

Drug abuse was a diagnosis in 1.3 million U.S. hospital stays in 2005, more than half of which began in the emergency department, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reports. About 17% of those hospitalized for drug abuse were uninsured.

Opioids and cocaine were the most frequently named drugs on discharge records for drug abuse hospitalizations.

[ via AHA News Now ]