The median life expectancy for a U.S. baby born with Down syndrome jumped from about four years in 1950 to 58 years in the 2010s. That’s largely because they no longer can be denied lifesaving care, including surgeries for heart defects. But now, aging adults with Down syndrome face a health system unprepared to care for them.
One of Montana’s largest mental health providers has ratcheted back services amid financial troubles, leaving a vacuum. State policymakers have promised more money to aid behavioral health care, but lasting change could be years out.
More than 1 in 5 Americans report having been threatened with a firearm, and almost as many say they worry about gun violence every day or almost every day, a new KFF poll shows.
More than 1 in 5 Americans report having been threatened with a firearm, and almost as many say they worry about gun violence every day or almost every day, a new KFF poll shows.
Persistent fatigue — the feeling of having no energy — can contribute to frailty and affects 40% to 74% of older patients with chronic illness. Yet its causes can be elusive.
Doctors have no national standards on when to order urine tests to check whether adult ADHD patients are properly taking their prescription stimulants. Some patients are subjected to much more frequent testing than others.
Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among college students. Contrary to conventional wisdom, athletes aren’t immune from the risk factors. Players at Stanford University, the University of Wisconsin, and other colleges are learning how to protect their mental health and ask for help after their teammates killed themselves.
A recent report detailing problems with Florida’s patchwork mental health system had reached conclusions nearly identical to those of a similar report from more than 20 years ago. The echoes between the findings are unmistakable. And Florida isn’t the only state struggling with the criminalization of mental illness, a lack of coordination between providers, and insufficient access to treatment.
In-person mental health care is hard to arrange in rural nursing homes, so video chats with faraway professionals are filling the gap.
The state wants to stop paying Kaiser Permanente for treating severely mentally ill Medi-Cal patients in Sacramento and Solano counties and force the counties to take on the task. The counties’ leaders say they can’t afford it.
