CMS Announces New Medicaid Demonstration Opportunity to Expand Mental Health Treatment Services
Nov 13, 2018 - The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced existing and new opportunities for states to design innovative service delivery systems for adults with serious mental illness (SMI) and children with serious emotional disturbance (SED). This includes the ability for states to receive authority to pay for short-term resident treatment services in an institution for mental disease (IMD).
Source: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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UMass Amherst Researchers Battle Against Youth Suicide in Rural Alaska Native Communities
Nov 13, 2018 - Highlights a youth suicide prevention program that uses a community mobilization approach in 15 remote Alaska towns. Promoting Community Conversations About Research to End Suicide (PC CARES) aims to respectfully provide Alaska Native communities with a practical method for translating scientific research into culturally relevant ways to reduce suicide risk factors and increase safety, help-seeking and support. Rural Alaska Native youth suicide rates are up to 18 times higher than all American youth.
Source: News Medical
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First Steps to Healthy Babies: Program Aims to Reduce Opioid-Affected Births at Rural Hospitals
Nov 12, 2018 - Highlights a rural Minnesota hospital's experience with a significant and rapid increase of mothers with opioid use disorder (OUD) and infants born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). This was a dramatic change for the hospital, and for many others like it in rural areas of the state, which was largely unprepared to provide the necessary care. In response, this hospital and community collaborators developed a program to reduce the number of NAS births, and to help expectant mothers with OUD have a safe and healthy pregnancy and work towards recovery.
Source: Minn Post
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HHS Releases Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd Edition
Nov 12, 2018 - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the newest edition of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. It includes evidence-based recommendations for physical activity for youth ages 3-5, 6-17, adults, older adults, women during pregnancy and the postpartum period, adults with chronic health conditions, and adults with disabilities. The U.S. currently has low levels of adherence to these guidelines.
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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Should Childhood Trauma Be Treated As A Public Health Crisis?
Nov 9, 2018 - Discusses findings from a new study that suggests that it could be more effective to approach childhood trauma as a public health concern than to limit treatment to individuals. The study drew on the experiences of participants in a study that followed 1,420 children from mostly rural parts of western North Carolina, including a high number of Native American participants, over 22 years. Researchers found a clear connection between childhood trauma and adult hardships.
Source: NPR
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Substance Abuse Impacts Foster Care, Adoption New “AFCARS” Data Released
Nov 8, 2018 - Highlights new data from Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Administration for Children and Families' (ACF) Children's Bureau. While the number of children in foster care has increased for the last five years, the magnitude of each annual increase has gotten smaller. In categories for circumstances associated with a child's removal from a home, the category of drug abuse increased the most.
Source: Administration for Children and Families
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Rural American Hospitals Are Not Prepared for the Rise in Babies Born with Opioid Withdrawal
Nov 5, 2018 - Highlights the results of a new study on opioid use disorder (OUD) during pregnancy. Both maternal OUD and neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) are increasing disproportionately among rural residents. This is complicated by the fact that fewer than half of rural county hospitals offer obstetric care, and higher-acuity care is frequently not available.
Source: Quartz
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Study Highlights Child Food Insecurity in New Hampshire
Nov 1, 2018 - Highlights the results of a new report from the University of New Hampshire's Carsey School of Public Policy on food insecurity and summer food programs in a rural New Hampshire county.
Source: NHPR
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Youth Homelessness Similar in Rural and Urban Communities, Research Suggests
Oct 24, 2018 - Highlights a report from Chapin Hill at the University of Chicago that found that youth homelessness rates are roughly the same in urban and rural areas. 9.2% of young adults in rural areas aged 18 to 25 experienced homelessness in the past year, while in urban areas it was 9.6%. For teens aged 13 to 17, 4.4% had experienced homelessness in rural areas and 4.2 in urban areas. Even so, rural youth were less likely to have access to support services and employment opportunities.
Source: Route Fifty
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CMS Model Addresses Opioid Misuse among Expectant and New Mothers
Oct 23, 2018 - The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the Maternal Opioid Misuse (MOM) model, which works to coordinate care of pregnant and postpartum Medicaid beneficiaries with opioid use disorder (OUD). The CMS Innovation Center will execute up to 12 cooperative agreements with states whose Medicaid agencies will implement the model over five years.
Source: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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