Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Using data on patients with a Veterans Affairs (VA) emergency department visit for a mental health condition, Costantini et al. (2025) finds that: …longer waiting times make it more likely that patients miss their follow-up mental health visit, consequently increasing the probability that they permanently disengage from care. A 1 standard deviation increase in wait…
When people are having a mental health crisis, what are their options? Many patients may need to go to the emergency department (ED). An alternative to the ED is behavioral health crisis care (BHCC),defined as emergency behavioral health services available on a 24/7 walk-in basis to all patients, regardless of ability to pay. BHCC typically…
Many studies (e.g., Okui 2020, Le Bon 2014, Blanchflower and Oswald 2009) have claimed that mental health exhibits a U shape where mental health decrease with a nadir at middle age and then increases as people grow into their elderly years. However, a recent study by Dijk and Mierau (2022) finds that mental health may…
Interesting study from Taylor et al. (2022), which aims to examine to what extent psychotic experiences become less heritable when adolescents are exposed to more environmental risk factors? The methods are outlined as follows: This twin study, conducted from December 1, 2014, to August 31, 2020, included a UK-based sample of twin pairs aged 16…
That is the title of a paper published today with my co-authors Felicia Forma, Kevin Chiu, Jason Shafrin, Dusica Hadzi Boskovic, and S Phani Veeranki. The subtitle is: Caregiver preferences for health technology tools to monitor medication adherence among patients with serious mental illness. The paper abstract is below: Background Adherence to antipsychotic medication is…
For any patients–but especially those with neurodevelopmental illnesses such as schizophrenia–have a consistent ‘medical home’ is vital for continuity of care. However, having consistent access to provider who know your medical history may be challenging if you frequently switch health insurance. “Insurance churn” is defined a patients who either transition between health plans or transition…
That is the finding from a white paper from the Schizophrenia and Psychosis Action Alliance titled “Societal Costs of Schizophrenia & Related Disorders“. I am a co-author on the paper. Below is a summary of the findings: …the societal costs of schizophrenia were estimated to be $281.6 billion in 2020…Direct costs for individuals living with…
As COVID-19 has made many of us acutely aware, providing high quality mental health care is vital. However, the mental health care market is a difficult one for insurers; there is evidence that uncertainty and variation in treatments are greater compared to physical health conditions (for instance, see Frank et al. 2000). Thus uncertainty and…
This is the title of a paper published today with co-authors Suepattra May, Caroline Huber, Meaghan Roach, Wade Aubry, Darius Lakdawalla, John Kane, and Felicia Forma. The subtitle is “Qualitative Case Study of Glucose Monitoring Technology“. The abstract is below. Background: Evaluation of patients with serious mental illness (SMI) relies largely on patient or caregiver…
That is the key takeaway from a recent JAMA Viewpoint by Carlo, Barnett and Frank (2020). While there has been some progress, there are still tremendous gaps that need to be addressed. For patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or other more serious mental health conditions, less than two-thirds received care for their illness, according to…