Article Excerpt: As some states try to regulate children’s social media use and TikTok emerges as a geopolitical chew toy, a new clearinghouse has emerged for mediating between tech companies and those concerned about their products’ impact on kids: the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/bdahr353
Article Source: Axios
Article Excerpt: According to the state Department of Health and Human Services, one in four New Hampshire residents is experiencing some form of mental health distress. “This is a regional and national crisis for all children and adults,” said Dr. William Torrey, chief of psychiatry at Dartmouth Health, who has spent 38 years in the field. Demand for inpatient and outpatient care currently “exceeds our capacity at all levels,” Torrey said. More people are seeking care, more are acknowledging mental illness and addiction struggles in themselves and loved ones, and more are advocating for mental health care — which is good. “They see the extreme need for services.”
Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/msxv2adj
Article Source: Union Leader
Article Excerpt: New legislation would allow for reimbursement of prescribed digital therapeutics under Medicare, which proponents argue could increase access to these emerging treatments. Still, others say it’s new technology, and the wrong reimbursement model could tamper innovation and increase patient costs. The Access to Prescription Digital Therapeutics Act of 2022, introduced in the U.S. Senate in March, aims to amend the Social Security Act to provide Medicare coverage and reimbursement for prescription digital therapeutics.
Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/464yhtr7
Article Source: MobiHealthNews
Article Excerpt: Medicare annual wellness visits do not adequately meet the wellness needs of the diverse population of U.S. adults, according to research conducted at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Physicians at the medical school weighed the opportunities gained and lost through the one-size-fits-all approach to Medicare annual wellness visits, according to a Sept. 6 news release. Annual medical visits address disease prevention and the promotion of health and wellness and are an important part of medical care for older adults. Medicare initiated annual wellness visits as part of the program 10 years ago. John Batsis, MD, associate professor in the division of geriatric medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said there is a missed opportunity to use the Medicare annual wellness visit in a manner to optimize quality of life and physical function among the millions of older adults in the United States.
Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/3yhzpx7d
Article Source: Becker’s Hospital Review
Article Excerpt: While medical visits that address disease prevention and the promotion of health and wellness are important parts of medical care for older adults, when Medicare was introduced in 1965, it did not address this important component of health care. Medicare took an important step to correct this deficit when it initiated Medicare annual wellness visits (AWV) ten years ago. AWV’s emphasis on disease prevention and health promotion for older adults was a huge step forward, however the current “one size fits all” approach does not adequately meet the wellness needs of a diverse population of older adults. In their recent special article in the Journal of American Geriatrics Society, Patrick P Coll, MD, medical director for senior health and associate director for clinical geriatrics at the UConn Center on Aging at UConn Health, and John A. Batsis, MD, associate professor in the division of geriatric medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and colleagues reviewed the need to redesign AWV’s in order to optimally identify issues that are important to each individual patient.
Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/2bxppd3n
Article Source: UNC Health News
Article Excerpt: The Biden Administration is encouraging new digital therapeutics reimbursement strategies in both the public and private sector as part of its National Drug Control Strategy report. In the plan the White House pitches digital therapeutics, evidence-based treatments delivered through software interventions to treat or manage a condition, as a potential tool to help expand access to substance use disorder (SUD) treatments. The reimbursement plans, which was first spotted by Exits and Outcomes, was part of a larger plan to tackle substance use disorders.
Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/mr82ered
Article Source: Behavioral Health Business
Article Excerpt: An April 6 press release announced that Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA) and Congressman Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) introduced a new act focused on improving behavioral health providers are not left behind when it comes to health information technology, including electronic health records (EHRs). The act, dubbed The Behavioral Health Information Technologies (BHIT) Now Act, aims to coordinate mental and physical health are by supporting behavioral health providers to adopt health IT systems.
Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/y7b5urue
Article Source: Healthcare Innovation
Article Excerpt: It got a lot easier for patients with opioid addiction to get their medication remotely during the pandemic — and now addiction doctors and telehealth companies are pushing Congress to make those flexibilities permanent. Before Covid-19, patients had to see a doctor in person for prescriptions to help them with their addictions, like buprenorphine. Now, at least temporarily, they can get them via telehealth appointments. Experts say loosening the rules helped eliminate longstanding barriers to addiction care, like a lack of transportation or a shortage of clinicians who prescribe medically assisted treatment, especially in rural communities. But the changes are temporary, tied to the state of “emergency” associated with the pandemic — and proponents want them made permanent.
Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/2emjckwd
Article Source: STAT News
Article Excerpt: There is enormous growth in the digital health sector, illustrated by huge capital investment, and a massive proliferation of mental and behavioral health apps and associated marketing claims. We are particularly concerned about one component of this sector, namely “software as a medical device”, which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defines as “software intended to be used for one or more medical purposes,….without being part of a hardware medical device,” and where the purpose is “treatment or alleviation of disease.” This new approach to treatment, increasingly referred to as digital therapeutics (DTx), has the potential to transform mental health care. The global DTx market was valued at more than $3.5 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach $23.5 billion by 2030. According to industry reporting, the largest number of DTx programs today are related to mental health, and most FDA submissions for DTx use cognitive behavioral therapy to promote behavior change in conditions ranging from insomnia to substance use disorder. The opportunity for innovation is clear. However, there are challenges that must be addressed.
Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/2myajfns
Article Source: Health Affairs