Mental Health

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Lawmaker Pushing Mental Health Reform: It’s ‘More Needed Than Ever’

KFF Health News Original

Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked lawmakers to pare down their legislative wish lists and focus on the state’s coronavirus response. But state Sen. Jim Beall plans to forge ahead with his mental health care proposals, including a measure to create a state mental health parity requirement.

Coronavirus Crisis Opens Access To Online Opioid Addiction Treatment

KFF Health News Original

Under the national emergency, the government has waived a law that required patients to have an in-person visit with a physician before they could be prescribed drugs that help quell withdrawal symptoms, such as Suboxone. Now they can get those prescriptions via a phone call or videoconference with a doctor. That may give video addiction therapy a kick-start.

Coronavirus Nurses Ask An Ebola Veteran: Is It OK To Be Afraid?

KFF Health News Original

Martha Phillips traveled to Sierra Leone during the Ebola epidemic in 2014 to serve as a nurse. Now, she’s working on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, advising her colleagues on how to stay safe.

California’s New Attack On Opioid Addiction Hits Old Roadblocks

KFF Health News Original

State officials in California have achieved some success in promoting the use of medication-assisted treatment for people with opioid addictions, but they are bumping up against familiar resistance and constraints.

Addiction Is ‘A Disease Of Isolation’ — So Pandemic Puts Recovery At Risk

KFF Health News Original

People in recovery from drug or alcohol addiction have to weather a new storm of depression, anxiety and isolation during the pandemic, just as the social supports of Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs move online. 

Take A Deep Breath: Making Risk-Based Decisions In The Coronavirus Era

KFF Health News Original

There’s an array of recommendations about how to adjust our lives to reduce the spread of the novel virus. All are motivated by the same guiding principle: The better the public does in these efforts, the better off everyone will be.

Newsom: To Fix Homelessness, California Must Fix Mental Health

KFF Health News Original

California Gov. Gavin Newsom dedicated nearly all of his State of the State address Wednesday to homelessness. To fix that problem, he said, the state must address another one: mental health care.

No Quick Fix: Missouri Finds Managing Pain Without Opioids Isn’t Fast Or Easy

KFF Health News Original

In the first nine months of an alternative pain management program in Missouri, only a small fraction of the state’s Medicaid recipients have accessed the chiropractic care, acupuncture, physical therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy meant to combat the overprescription of opioids.

Conservative Indiana Adopted Needle Exchanges But Still Faces Local Resistance

KFF Health News Original

Indiana was ground zero for shifting ideas about needle exchanges after a small town had an HIV outbreak in 2015 brought on by needle-sharing. But even as other parts of the country start to embrace needle exchanges amid the ongoing opioid epidemic, the sites remain controversial in Indiana. Only nine of the state’s 92 counties have them, after a series of closures and reopenings.

Finding Connections And Comfort At The Local Cafe

KFF Health News Original

For Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers, social and emotional isolation is a threat. But hundreds of “Memory Cafes” around the country offer them a chance to be with others who understand, and to receive social and cognitive stimulation in the process.

Diagnosed With Dementia, She Documented Her Wishes. They Said No.

KFF Health News Original

Across the U.S., people with early dementia are signing new advance directives to confirm their end-of-life wishes while they still have the ability to do so. But doctors say the documents may offer a false sense of security.

Family Doctors In Rural America Tackle Crisis Of Addiction And Pain

KFF Health News Original

For rural physicians, the burden of responding to the opioid epidemic falls squarely on their already loaded shoulders. For one doctor in a small Wisconsin village, there was no question that she wanted to rise to the challenge.

Reduce Health Costs By Nurturing The Sickest? A Much-Touted Idea Disappoints

KFF Health News Original

Nearly a decade ago, Dr. Jeffrey Brenner and his Camden Coalition appeared to have an answer to remake American health care: Treat the sickest and most expensive patients. But a rigorous study in the New England Journal of Medicine shows the approach doesn’t save money. “We built a brilliant intervention to navigate people to nowhere,” Brenner tells the “Tradeoffs” podcast.