AT THIS HOUR

18 And Life: A growing portion of young adults, 18 all the way up to 30 something, believe insurance is unnecessary. “I’ll take my chances,” Nellie Raivala, 28, said. “I don’t really drink, I spend time outside a lot, don’t eat meat or processed stuff – and if I have to go to the hospital, they have to see me and treat me.” The poll from The Behavioral Health Hour of 16,231 has 41%, up from 29% two years ago, who have this attitude.

Science: What Can’t GLP-1s Do? The latest research has them reducing knee inflammation in patients with meniscus tears and halting alcohol abuse in adults. Not sure we’ve had a cascading effect like this on healthcare cost and utilization and human behavior like ever, ‘cept maybe opioids, but that hasn’t worked out so well. We’re convening a panel of clinical thought leaders on Jan. 21st to discuss the implications. To register, click here.

Sport: Interesting resources here from Athletes For Hope, an organization offering a network of mental health support for sports players at all levels.

Policy: Health insurers are now planning to contain the cost of mental health services - outpatient therapy, autism therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and general telehealth encounters. The goal is to draw a line between what’s necessary and what’s working and, interestingly, patients making progress likely see a reduction in the number of visits paid by insurance and those not making progress will be pushed to change.

Perspective: Apparently some hospitals are resorting to recruiting their own patients to help….for the full story:

Read the archives