Mental Health

Latest KFF Health News Stories

How Germany Averted An Opioid Crisis

KFF Health News Original

Doctors are less likely to prescribe opioids in Germany and quicker to notice if a patient is at risk of abuse. And, for those who do experience addiction, treatment is easier to come by.

Bruising Labor Battles Put Kaiser Permanente’s Reputation On The Line

KFF Health News Original

Kaiser Permanente just avoided a nationwide strike by thousands of workers, but now faces a new strike threat Monday. The labor battles are exposing the health care giant to scrutiny from lawmakers, health care advocates and others who accuse it of no longer living up to its nonprofit ideals.

Meth Trip Or Mental Illness? Police Who Need To Know Often Can’t Tell

KFF Health News Original

The calming techniques that officers learn during training to intervene in a mental health crisis don’t seem to work as well when a suspect is high on meth. Meth calls can be much more dangerous, police say.

Washington State Law On Behavioral Care Balances Parental Rights, Teens’ Autonomy

KFF Health News Original

Many states have rules that keep parents from knowing about or consenting to certain types of care for their children, including mental health and drug and alcohol treatment. Washington state, however, has revised its policies.

Taking The Cops Out Of Mental Health-Related 911 Rescues

KFF Health News Original

Denver is considering adopting a new 911 alternative used in Eugene, Ore., that allows mental health and medical professionals, not police officers, to respond to some emergency calls, saving money and de-escalating situations with mentally ill people.

Pediatricians Stand By Meds For ADHD, But Some Say Therapy Should Come First

KFF Health News Original

The American Academy of Pediatrics is out with new guidelines on ADHD that some hoped would boost the role of behavioral interventions before medications. But the AAP stuck by its recommendation that children 6 and older should be given medicine combined with therapy after diagnosis.

Want To Reduce Suicides? Follow The Data — To Medical Offices, Motels And Even Animal Shelters

KFF Health News Original

An Oregon epidemiologist is using data to find patterns in suicides, then offering prevention training at the motels where people keep taking their lives, the animal shelter where they give away their pets, the pain clinics where patients struggle. Her model is spreading to New York, California and elsewhere.

‘Crackhouse’ Or ‘Safehouse’? U.S. Officials Try To Block Philly’s Supervised Injection Site

KFF Health News Original

An average of three people a day died of opioid overdose in Philadelphia in 2018. But efforts to combat the crisis with a supervised injection site could be stymied by “the crackhouse statute,” a portion of federal law meant to protect neighborhoods during the crack epidemic of the 1980s.