Responding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) latest Youth Risk Behavior Survey for 2011-2021, an article in The Atlantic attempts to make sense of the historic levels of anxiety and depression being reported by today’s teens, especially girls and those who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (the survey does not track trans identity).
The survey, which is the definitive measure of youth behavior and mental health in the country, found nearly 60 percent of teenage girls reported “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness”, and that the share contemplating suicide grew by 50 percent since 2011. The article explores several possible drivers, including a pandemic-induced effect that could subside, pervasive exposure to social media, the normalization of discussing mental distress, and the outcome of growing up with ongoing crises like school shootings and climate change. But none of the explanations fully accounts for the alarming crisis, nor do any of them present easily workable solutions.
The Gist: Echoing the drug overdose epidemic, the unfolding crisis in teen mental health is difficult for providers to address because many victims don’t access healthcare services until their conditions deteriorate to the point of requiring hospitalization, often from a suicide attempt or an overdose.
And when teenagers in mental health crisis present to emergency departments, hospitals are often forced to board them for days,as the number of psychiatric treatment facilities for teens has dropped by 30 percent from 2012 to 2020.
These data should be a call for providers to focus more upstream diagnosis and care, by partnering with children, families, schools, and other community organizations.
The US Preventative Services Task Force, which is appointed by an arm of the Department of Health and Human Services, issued draft guidance this week recommending that all adults under age 65 be screened for symptoms of anxiety disorders.
The panel made a similar recommendation for children and teenagers earlier this year. COVID accelerated an already widespread mental health crisis, with the prevalence of anxiety and depression increasing by 25 percent globally during the first year of the pandemic. The panel’s recommendations are not mandatory, but carry strong influence over primary care physician practices. Draft guidance will be finalized in the coming months after a review of public comments.
The Gist: Policymakers and providers are right to respond to the population-wide increase in anxiety and depression brought on by COVID, and regular screenings will surely help quantify the scope of a problem we’re now facing.
However, given our nation’s undersupply of behavioral health practitioners, widespread screenings are likely to unleash a flood of demand that traditional providers will struggle to meet. Given virtual care’s staying power in the behavioral health space, we hope that the inevitable wave of mental health diagnoses will be matched with innovative care models designed to treat this growing issue at scale.
Individuals in crisis can dial 988 to speak with mental health professionals, receive immediate medical assistance, or be directed to treatment. Established by a 2020 law, the hotline is an expanded version of the previous National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, intended to provide Americans with a single mental health emergency access point, akin to 911.
The Gist: While 988 has the potential to help more Americans, as well as reduce some burden on overstressed first responders and hospital emergency rooms, media outlets are reporting concerns from national, state, and local partners that they lack adequate staffing and funding to handle the expected level of demand.
The nation is long overdue for creating accessible, coordinated mental health crisis care, and this is a step in the right direction. But with one in six calls to the current hotline system now going unanswered, the rollout needs to be coupled with funding for local infrastructure needs.
Gun violence is a public health problem, but we don’t approach it like one. The debate often gets framed as “guns or no guns” when it isn’t that black and white. In this episode we break down how and why to approach gun violence as a public health problem, what the current research has to say, and what we need to move forward.
The right to bear arms has existed since we became a nation. So, too, has the risk of violence that extensive gun ownership creates in our society.
Unfortunately, recent mass shooting incidents, fueled by hatred or mental illness, have sparked a great deal of fear and confusion among Americans.
As healthcare leaders, our concern centers on the treatment of those who are victims of senseless gun violence. And not just those who are shot, but the other victims as well.
Healthcare providers must care for all victims — the ones who are traumatized because a loved one has been hurt or lost, the ones who were at the chaotic scene of the violence, or who are haunted by the endless media stories they cannot seem to tune out. The emotional toll of this violence is incomprehensible.
Healthcare facilities attempt to provide refuge from violence and seek to provide healing and hope to all victims of violence.
Unstable individuals with guns and other weapons of harm find their way into our buildings and hallways as well. Earlier this month, a man who blamed his physician for ongoing pain after a recent back surgery shot and killed his surgeon and three other people before fatally shooting himself in a Tulsa, Okla., medical facility. Also this month, a hospital security officer was shot and killed by a prison inmate who was receiving care in a Dayton, Ohio, emergency room.
These incidents are the latest horrifying tragedies in a wave of deadly gun violence occurring across our country, including two heart-breaking mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde, Texas. We mention these tragedies not to make a political statement, but to raise awareness of the consequences of this violence on healthcare providers and the public health.
As healthcare workers, healers, and caregivers, we work to fix what is broken and put people back together. We bring solutions. We engage with our hearts to stand together in the fear and vulnerabilities of those who need us so that we can help them through difficult challenges. We look to bring light to dark situations. We seek to be beacons of hope.
The escalation of recent shootings, suicides and other violent behaviors underscores the urgency for a national conversation on what has become a serious public health crisis. We believe health systems have a credible voice and can play a critical role beyond being places to physically and emotionally care for the victims of violence.
It’s easy to allow ourselves to become numb to the frequency of these unconscionable, violent acts. But we owe it to present and future generations not to let that happen. We recognize there are no easy answers to this national problem. After all, we are dealing with abnormal behavior — the decision to seriously harm or kill other people. That this behavior is increasing calls for something to be done to effect positive change.
People across our country and the communities we serve are hurting and vulnerable. Many people are weary from the pandemic that has impacted our hearts and our health. Violence and death, and particularly mass shootings, hit adults hard. Now consider what the prevalence and threat of school shootings have done to an entire generation of children, who are growing up with the fear of being shot and killed in a place they should feel safe.
We all can play a role. Recently, our two organizations decided to do something to reduce gun violence by sponsoring a law enforcement gun buyback program to help get guns off the street. This effort was part of the largest single-day gun buyback in New Jersey state history. It successfully removed over 2,800 guns statewide. Private organizations, companies, and individuals must think of additional creative ways beyond criticizing politicians, to bring about the change we need.
We encourage organizations and communities to come together, to pool their minds and their resources to address gun violence in society as the urgent public health crisis that it is. We must create meaningful public health campaigns around the safe storage and handling of firearms, and sensible and innovative ways to prevent gun violence in schools, healthcare settings and public places. Individuals should educate themselves on the issues surrounding gun violence so they may contribute to the effort to bring about necessary and meaningful change.
And yes, we need to accelerate efforts around our nation’s mental health crisis. We know from the data and what we are all experiencing that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated what was already a growing nationwide mental health crisis.
Violence against any person in any venue is unspeakable. Yet just because it is unspeakable does not mean we should not speak up about it. Let us put our anger, shock and heartbreak into positive change. With the same unstoppable resolution that we seek to cure cancer or slow heart disease, let us advocate, educate and take meaningful action to end gun violence and all senseless violence that is taking such a tragic toll on our nation and our wellbeing.
About Virtua Health Virtua Health is an academic health system committed to helping the people of South Jersey be well, get well, and stay well by providing the complete spectrum of advanced, accessible, and trusted healthcare services. Virtua’s 14,000 colleagues provide tertiary care, including renowned cardiology and transplant programs, complemented by a community-based care portfolio. In addition to five hospitals, two satellite emergency departments, 30 ambulatory surgery centers, and more than 300 other locations, Virtua brings health services directly into communities through Hospital at Home, physical therapy and rehabilitation, mobile screenings, and its paramedic program. Virtua has 2,850 affiliated doctors and other clinicians, and its specialties include orthopedics, advanced surgery, and maternity. Virtua is academically affiliated with Rowan University, leading research, innovation, and immersive education at the Virtua Health College of Medicine & Health Sciences of Rowan University. Virtua is also affiliated with Penn Medicine for cancer and neuroscience, and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for pediatrics. As a not-for-profit, Virtua is committed to the well-being of the community and provides innovative outreach programs that address social challenges affecting health, most notably the “Eat Well” food access initiative, which includes the unparalleled Eat Well Mobile Grocery Store. A Magnet-recognized health system ranked by U.S. News and World Report, Virtua has received many awards for quality, safety, and its outstanding work environment. For more information, visit Virtua.org. To help Virtua make a difference, visit GiveToVirtua.org.
About Cooper University Health Care Cooper University Health Care is a leading academic health system with more 8,500 employees and more than 800 employed physicians. Cooper University Hospital is the only Level 1 Trauma Center in South Jersey and the busiest in the region. Annually, nearly two million patients are served at Cooper’s 635-bed flagship hospital, outpatient surgery center, three urgent care centers, and more than 105 ambulatory offices throughout the community. The Cooper Health Sciences campus is home to Cooper University Hospital, MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper, Children’s Regional Hospital at Cooper, and Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. Visit CooperHealth.org to learn more.
The digital platform is designed to provide consumers with a coordinated healthcare experience across care settings. It’s being sold to Aetna’s fully insured and self-insured plan sponsors, as well as CVS Caremark clients, and is due to go live next year. According to CVS Health, the new offering “enables consumers to choose care when and where they want,” whether that’s virtually, in a retail setting (including at a MinuteClinic or HealthHUB), or through at-home services.
Patients will have access to primary care, on-demand care, medication management, chronic condition management, and mental health services, as well as help in identifying other in-network care providers.
The Gist: CVS Health has been working to integrate its retail clinics, care delivery assets, and health insurance business. This new virtual-first care platform is aimed at coordinating care and experience across the portfolio, and streamlining how individuals access the range of services available to them.
CVS is not alone in focusing here: UnitedHealth Group, Cigna, and others have announced virtual-first health plans with a similar value proposition. Any payer or provider who aims to own the consumer relationship must field a similar digital care platform that streamlines and coordinates service offerings, lest they find themselves in a market where many patients turn first to CVS and other disruptors for their care needs.
The explosion of apps, wearables, and other health tech solutions targeted at employers has overwhelmed and frustrated many HR executives who make decisions about employee health benefits. At a recent convening of health insurance brokers we participated in, several bemoaned the challenge of helping their clients understand which solutions might bring real value.
One shared, “For the past few years, it’s felt like ‘App-apalooza’ out there. CHROs [chief human resource officers] get pitches for new apps every day…there are literally thousands out there saying they’ll reduce costs and improve employee health, but it’s next to impossible to tell which ones of them actually work.”
Brokers expressed surprise at how little evidence, or in some cases, actual patient and client experience, some health tech companies brought to the table: “We have startups coming to our clients talking about their millions of dollars in funding, but when you dig into what they’re actually doing, not only can they not show outcomes data, you find out they’ve only worked with a few dozen patients!”
But among the sea of apps purporting to manage any and every employee health need, from chronic disease to fertility to sleep quality, brokers reported their clients were finding value in a few distinct areas.
Technology-based mental health solutions received high marks for increasing access to care, with the prediction that “tele-behavioral health could become a standard part of most benefits packages very quickly”.
More surprisingly, employers shared positive feedback on the impact of virtual physical therapy solutions: “I was skeptical that it would work, but people like being able to rehab at home. And not only is it cheaper, we’re seeing higher adherence rates.”
But even the best apps are often challenged by a lack of connectivity to the rest of a patient’s healthcare. The technologies that will have the greatest staying power will be those that not only deliver results, but are able to move beyond point solutions to become part of an integrated care experience, meaningfully connected to other providers involved in a patient’s care.
President Joe Biden proposed a $5.8 trillion budget March 28 for fiscal year 2023, which includes funding for healthcare.
Nine healthcare takeaways:
1. Pandemic preparedness. The budget calls for a five-year investment of $81.7 billion to plan ahead for future pandemics. The funding would help support research and development of vaccines, improve clinical trial infrastructure and expand domestic manufacturing.
2. Mental health parity. Under the proposed budget, federal regulators would get the power to levy fines against health plans that violate mental health parity rules. The budget calls for $275 million over 10 years to increase the Labor Department’s capacity to ensure health plans are complying with the requirements and take action against those plans that do not. The budget also proposes funding to bolster the mental healthcare workforce and boost funding for suicide prevention programs.
3. Vaccines for uninsured adults. The proposed budget calls for establishing a new Vaccines for Adults program that would provide uninsured adults access to recommended vaccines at no cost.
4. Title X funding. The budget proposes providing $400 million in funding for the Title X Family Planning Program, which provides family planning and other healthcare services to low-income individuals.
5. Cancer Moonshot initiative. The budget proposes several investments across the FDA, CDC, National Cancer Institute and Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health to advance President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative. The initiative aims to reduce the cancer death rate by 50 percent over the next 25 years.
6. Spending to reduce HIV. The proposed budget includes $850 million to reduce new HIV cases by increasing access to HIV prevention services and support services.
7. Veterans Affairs medical care. President Biden’s proposed budget allocates $119 billion, or a 32 percent increase, to medical care for veterans. The money will fully fund inpatient, outpatient, mental health and long-term care services, while also investing in training programs for clinicians to work in the VA.
8. Discretionary funding for HHS. President Biden is asking Congress to approve $127.3 billion in discretionary funding for HHS in fiscal 2023, representing a $26.9 billion increase from the department’s allotment for fiscal 2021.
9. Mandatory spending for the Indian Health Service. The budget request for the Indian Health Service calls for shifting the healthcare agency from discretionary to mandatory funding. The budget calls for $9.1 billion in funding, a 20 percent increase from the amount allocated in fiscal 2021.
The stress, disruption, isolation, and lives lost during the pandemic have exacerbated longstanding challenges in access to mental healthcare. In the graphic above, we highlight how COVID has impacted the state of mental health across generations.
Younger Americans are faring much worse. This week, the nation’s leading pediatric professional societies declared a national mental health emergency for children and adolescents, and nearly half of “Generation Z” reports that their mental health has worsened during COVID.
Mental health-related emergency department (ED) visits increased in 2020 across all age groups, with the steepest rise among adolescents. Because of a national shortage of inpatient psychiatric beds, patients with mental health needs are increasingly being “boarded” in the ED—even asnearly two-thirds of EDs lack psychiatric services to adequately manage patients in crisis.
Case in point: research on behavioral health access in Massachusetts shows one in every four ED beds is now occupied by a patient awaiting psychiatric evaluation. ED boarding of patients in mental health crisis not only delays necessary care, but leads to throughput backups in hospitals, and increases caregiver stress and burnout.
Access to inpatient treatment is most challenged for children and adolescents, as well as “med-psych” patients, who also have significant physical health needs that must be managed. New solutions have emerged during the pandemic: burgeoning telemedicine platforms don’t just increase access to outpatient therapy, they also enable psychiatrists to evaluate emergency patients virtually.
In the long term, a three-part approach is needed—new virtual solutions, expanded inpatient capacity, and greater community resources to address the social needs that often accompany a behavioral health diagnosis.
Two of the best-known companies in the virtual mental health space announced plans to merge this week, creating a $3B player poised to dominate this fast-growing segment of healthcare demand.
Headspace, a direct-to-consumer provider of app-based “mindfulness” meditation programs, will combine with Ginger, which sells text- and video-based coaching and therapy services to employers and insurers. Between them, the two companies claim to serve over 100M users worldwide.
Headspace is best known as a consumer-focused app, while Ginger largely serves business and payer clients. The combined company, to be called Headspace Health, will surely look to consolidate offerings into a comprehensive mental health service for employees, targeting a benefits market that is rapidly becoming overwhelmed with startup providers of virtual point solutions.
Behavioral health telemedicine utilization skyrocketed during last year’s COVID surge, and has been the one area of virtual care not to fall back to earth since—we’ve learned that virtual is often a superior approach for many mental health services.
Two questions arose in our minds after the Headspace/Ginger merger was announced. First, does the combined company bring a broad enough value proposition to overcome employer frustration with a highly fragmented market, or will the new Headspace Health eventually need to be part of a larger insurer platform to capture the opportunity in front of it? And second, does “mindfulness” even work?
The academic evidence is decidedly mixed, but the popularity of Headspace and other meditation apps, especially among Millennial consumers, might make that question moot. The mindfulness “wrapper” on more traditional mental health services may prove to be very popular with employees, and could become a must-have element of employers’ benefit packages.
HENRY KOTULA 