Health systems are pouring capital, staff and new programs into outpatient behavioral health, and the numbers explain why. Demand is growing far faster than population trends alone would predict, and the gap between requests for care and available appointments is…
Ella Ruder
Minnesota will no longer allow hotel rooms to be used for crisis respite, a Medicaid-funded program that provides care and supervision to people experiencing mental health crises, MPR News reported Sept. 14. The state stopped allowing new hotel placements in…
Benzodiazepine use among Americans over 75 increased from 12% in 2020 to about 13% in 2024, even as concerns persist about the drugs’ risks for older adults, The New York Times reported Sept. 5. A recent study published in Annals…
Life expectancy among Medicaid beneficiaries with autism spectrum disorder was 13.8 years shorter than among the U.S. general population, according to a study published Sept. 10 in JAMA Network Open. Researchers from New York City-based Columbia University and University of…
A potent new synthetic opioid is spreading through the illicit drug supply, and federal officials are warning it’s harder to detect and harder to reverse than fentanyl alone. Cychlorphine has been linked to dozens of deaths since 2025, and it…
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Frequent smartphone check-ins predicted 75% of suicide attempts and 87% of suicide-related events, such as hospitalization, in the following seven days, according to a Sept. 11 Boston Globe report. Researchers from Cambridge, Mass.-based Harvard followed 619 adults and adolescents who…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied a request Sept. 9 to block the federal government’s marijuana Schedule III order, keeping the classification in effect while consolidated legal challenges proceed. The ruling covers SAM, Inc.…
Digital media or device-related problems were present in 19.2% of pediatric psychiatric crisis encounters, according to a study published March 2 in JAACAP Open. Researchers from University of Rochester Medical Center, Boston Children’s Hospital and Cambridge Health Alliance in Massachusetts…
Tennessee is the ninth state to begin granting privileges to licensed professional counselors to practice across state lines through the Counseling Compact. Under the compact, participating states recognize eligible counselors’ home-state licenses, much like states recognize driver’s licenses issued elsewhere,…
Syracuse, N.Y.-based Upstate University Hospital opened the Kimberly and John Mezzalingua Pediatric Behavioral Health After Hours Center to provide an alternative to the emergency department for children and adolescents experiencing acute emotional or behavioral distress that does not require emergency…