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Health Care Must Open More Doors to Mental Health Patients

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By ARPAN WAGHRAY, MD and BENJAMIN F. MILLER, PsyD

Benjamin F. Miller

Arpan Waghray

If someone we love has a physical ailment, we can list a variety of places for them to seek care: a clinician’s office, a pharmacy, an urgent care clinic, a school health clinic, an emergency department — the list goes on.

And, in every case, we would feel confident the clinicians in those places would know how to handle the case — or at least know where to send the patient if they need more intensive or specialized care.

But, sadly, the same isn’t true for a loved one with a mental health or substance misuse need, even thought mental health problems are more prevalent than many physical conditions.

As deaths of despair from drug or alcohol misuse or suicide continue to rise, we need a comprehensive, coordinated “no wrong door” approach that fully integrates mental health into the health care system and beyond. We need to transform our clinical practice, creating more options for care and putting mental health and substance use patients’ best interests first. Policy and payment reform must happen to make this new vision of care possible.

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Health in 2 Point 00, Episode 72 | Haven, Scott Gottlieb, & Crossover Health

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On Episode 72 of Health in 2 Point 00, Jess and I give you a run down of the latest in health tech. At long last, the joint health care venture between Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and J.P. Morgan has a name: Haven. In other news, Scott Gottlieb has decided to leave the FDA; we’ll just have to see what happens with the next FDA Commissioner. On the behavioral health front, AbleTo has acquired Joyable, a mental health coaching app. Finally, Crossover Health, which provides medical services to large employers like Facebook, acquired Sherpaa, a text messaging-based service—we’re seeing virtual services combining with a physical space more and more. And as mentioned, you can catch my talk from the 2017 HIC conference in Australia on how SMACK Health and Karl Marx will change health care here. —Matthew Holt

Treating Mental Health Disorders with Art

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By JESSICA DaMASSA, WTF Health

In honor of World Mental Health Day, I’m sharing the story of PeaceLove Studios and its founder & artist-in-chief, Jeff Sparr. Jeff‘s built an expressive arts program to help millions cope with mental health disorders after he found painting to help with his OCD.

Healthcare needs a place for non-pharmaceutical, non-digital modes of therapy, and PeaceLove Studios is focused on ramping up awareness about the therapeutic benefits of expressive arts when it comes to mental wellness. Part of the challenge, however, is just starting the conversation and bringing visibility to mental health disorders in the first place. Jeff is hoping to inspire a movement. Tune in to find out how. 

Get a glimpse of the future of healthcare by meeting the people who are going to change it. Find more WTF Health interviews here or check out www.wtf.health. 

Can Supportiv fill the mental health peer support gap?

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By MATTHEW HOLT

As promised I’m going to be featuring more interesting companies I’m working with on THCB. Supportiv, which is launching today in beta (App store/Play) is a thoroughly modern answer to the problem of scaling peer support in mental health. It’s aimed in the space between the mediation apps like Headspace & Calm, and the online therapy services like AbleTo or Lantern. The target market is anyone feeling stress or wanting support in a quick and easy format–that’s basically everyone! Using the magic of NLP, those looking for support are steered into a chatroom where a trained moderator (usually a Masters student in psychology) making sure the experience is smooth. In its trials earlier this year of the 48,000 users, 96% reported improvement. The business model? It costs 15 cents a minute, or $4.50 for 30 mins (which is roughly the expected length of a session). There’s lots of science behind the idea that peer support works but to hear more Jessica DaMasssa interviewed the co-founders Pouria Mojabi & Helena Plater-Zyberk.

Adapting Behavioral Health Integration to 21st Century Needs

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BY MANUEL CASTRO                       SPONSORED POST

At the start of my career, the standard of care for behavioral health integration was in-person, face-to-face interaction. As new ways to communicate have surfaced, the way we deliver care has also evolved. Today, both as a result of access but also now convenience, behavioral health treatment is often done virtually.

To keep on top of the trends, and in light of the access challenges inherent in our region, at Carolinas HealthCare System, we turned to technology to help alleviate these problems and reach more patients. Through a virtual care platform and telehealth services, patients from North and South Carolina can connect with a behavioral health provider from the comfort of home or during a visit with a primary care physician. By moving beyond the walls of the hospital and into the home and primary care setting, our dedicated team of behavioral health experts is able to help thousands of people access the quality behavioral health support they need.

I have always said that if we can save one life through this program, it is worthwhile. Two recent stories from our team prove to me that this approach is working:Continue reading…

Bringing Behavioral Health into Primary Care Settings

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BY MARTHA WHITECOTTON         SPONSORED CONTENT

The integration of behavioral health into the primary care setting has resulted in a number of benefits. Traditionally, behavioral health and medical health operated separately, but in recent years, the integration of these two systems has improved access to care, ensured continuity of care, reduced stigma associated with seeking care and allowed for earlier detection and treatment of mental health and substance abuse issues. By bringing behavioral health specialists into primary care facilities, healthcare systems have streamlined care and brought down costs, working collaboratively and reducing the number of appointments and hospital visits.

At Carolinas HealthCare System, we use technology to take behavioral health integration one step further. A robust behavioral health integration project was developed through myStrength, using virtual and telehealth technology to ensure that every primary care practice has the capabilities for early detection of mental illness and substance abuse and upstream intervention, easing the connection between behavior health specialists and patients who might otherwise be averse to seeking professional help.

Mental illness touches each of us personally: one in five individuals struggles with mental health issues, yet access to care is one of the biggest issues facing North Carolina residents today.Continue reading…

The FDA & Me (or How to Explain Your Test Isn’t a Game)

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By CORI LATHAN

Lathan_HeadshotSo you have a great idea for an app. Not so fast: it took two years and over half a million dollars to get ours cleared for marketing by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Our app, DANA uses a mobile phone to records peoples’ reaction time during game-like tests. It also provides questionnaires that help clinicians evaluate brain health. Commissioned from AnthroTronix by the Department of Defense, the app will help diagnose concussion, depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

For something so important, a serious investment of time and money for clearance may not sound extravagant, but few small companies can afford a two-year go-to-market delay, not to mention the significant investment and heartache that goes with it. And although the FDA has tried to facilitate regulation by providing guides like the Mobile Medical Applications Guidance Document and the Mobile Medical Applications website, the regulatory process remains confusing.

Here are five simple lessons from our own experience that will help other entrepreneurs to do the right thing and engage with the FDA:Continue reading…

Open Notes: Is Sharing Mental Health Notes with Patients a Good Idea?

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By MICHAEL KAHN, MD

flying cadeuciiWould allowing patients to read their mental health notes provide more benefits than risks?

In a recent article in JAMA  my colleagues and I argue that it would.  While transparent  medical records are gaining favor in primary care settings throughout the country through the OpenNotes initiative, there has been reluctance to allow patients to see what their treaters say about their mental health issues. While this reluctance is understandable and deserves careful consideration, we suggest that several benefits could result from patients reading their mental health notes.

First of all, accuracy would be enhanced  by allowing patients to cross-check what their clinicians say about their symptoms, medication doses, and so forth. Second, allowing patients to review assessments and treatment decisions privately might help to promote a richer dialogue between patient and clinician. Third, patients might learn that their clinician sees them more as a complete person, rather than as a collection of symptoms.

Many patients silently fear that their treater  “will think I’m crazy/whining/lazy/boring”; seeing in print that the treater does not see them  that way—and in fact recognizes and documents their strengths—can be an enormous relief and might therefore enhance the therapeutic alliance.

Clinicians have their own worries about transparent mental health notes that must be considered. Will patients feel objectified by the medical language commonly used in documentation? Will they break off treatment if they don’t like what they read? Will too much time be spent wrangling over details of what has been documented? Will vulnerable patients be psychologically harmed by reading their notes? Although our article briefly addresses these issues, only a trial of transparent mental health notes will provide the data needed to assess them.

Such a trial has just begun at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Culminating many months of careful planning by my colleagues in the ambulatory psychiatry clinic, the Social Work department, as well as the OpenNotes team, we began a pilot project of transparent notes in our psychiatry clinic on March 1. So far almost all clinicians have chosen to participate in the project, and have identified 10% of their caseloads to be included. It’s too early to gauge results yet, but we hope to more fully evaluate the effects of making mental health notes fully transparent to our patients.

Michael W. Kahn, MD is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Medical Faculty Physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). 

Mental Health Parity and the Affordable Care Act

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By David Dranove & Craig Garthwaite

The Obama administration announced on Friday that it will require parity for mental health insurance coverage. That means that health insurers must apply the same copayments, deductibles, and visit limits to mental healthcare as they do for physical health care treatment. Call it fair, call it political, but please don’t call it a good economic or health policy.

The story about how this is fair, or at least politically popular goes something like this: Health insurers are evil and powerful firms that can and will do whatever they want. On the other hand, patients with mental health problems are politically weak and must be protected from the powerful insurers that have no interest in taking care of them.

In this story, the Obama administration rides in on its white stallion and rights the wrongs being perpetrated by the villainous insurance companies. All we need is a damsel in distress, an evil step-mother, and a catchy tune and Disney will sign the movie rights.

The problem with this simplistic story line is that you can replace “mental health” with nearly any other condition and the story would sound just as plausible.

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After the Navy Yard Shooting: A Call to Action On Mental Illness

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By Jeffrey A. Lieberman, MD


The Navy Yard shooting in Washington, D.C. has once again confronted us with the issues of guns and mental illness, but what we really should address is the inadequacy of mental health care in the United States. Since 2009 there have been 21 mass shootings and the perpetrators in over half of these were suffering from or suspected to have a serious mental illness like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression. (The other killers with no signs of mental illness were ideological zealots, disgruntled employees and disaffected loners.)

After each incident there is a great hue and cry, and calls for action but no substantive action is taken. Our reflexive approach has repeatedly failed to provide care in a timely fashion to individuals in need. As a country, we continue to ignore the growing public health need for greater access and a more proactive approach to mental health care. It is time that we say enough is enough and do something to prevent future tragedies.

When you strip away the hype and politics, the causal factors in these horrific incidents are clear and solvable. Yet we’ve lacked the social and political will to fashion and apply the solution.

The plain truth of the matter is that we do not provide adequate services to the 26% of the U.S. population with mental illness. The scope of and access to mental health services available to most people are limited and fragmented. Moreover, insurance coverage is all too often lacking and discriminatory. Consequently, we do not provide the level and quality of care of which physicians and health care providers are capable. It is the equivalent of knowing that a woman has breast cancer but not offering the indicated treatment options of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. The result is that many people go untreated or inadequately treated.

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