🤝Yale's Mental Health Reforms: A Lifeline for Struggling Students
Your 09/17/23 update on all things mental health
Good morning! ☀️
And Happy Sunday!
On this day 236 years ago, the U.S. Constitution was signed by delegates at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Thirty-nine of the 55 delegates signed the new document, with many of those who refused to sign objecting to the lack of a bill of rights. At least one delegate refused to sign because the Constitution codified and protected slavery and the slave trade.
Question: How much money was invested in digital health companies in 2022?
Yale's Mental Health Reforms
In 2015, Yale sophomore Luchang Wang posted a desperate message on Facebook, saying she “couldn’t bear the thought of having to leave for a full year, or of leaving and never being readmitted.” She proceeded to take her own life.
Yale’s mental health policies had left many students considering mental health leave with a difficult choice: They could leave and obtain treatment, but in turn, they would withdraw from the prestigious university without guarantee of readmission. They would also be stripped of their health insurance and excluded from campus.
Following another student suicide in 2021, a group of strangers began to meet on Zoom, sharing their struggles and issuing a complaint, which resulted in a legal settlement “that considerably eases the process of taking a medical leave of absence.”
Under the new policy, students taking mental health leave may extend their insurance coverage for a year. They will also no longer be banned from campus or lose their campus jobs, and their return from leave will be more simple, with the health care provider playing a pivotal role in the decision.
The full article can be found here
Other mental health-related news
The Biden administration is imposing fines on insurers for loopholes that are denying mental health care. These loopholes include "requirements that doctors seek insurers’ approval before delivering care, lower reimbursement rates for providers who treat mental illness and deliberate efforts to limit the number of in-network physicians available to patients.” The insurers, on the other hand, complain that the lack of qualified providers is the real issue (link)
Judge Lina Hidalgo, of Harris County, Texas, announced that she will return to work on Oct. 2, extending her temporary leave of absence while receiving treatment for clinical depression. Other elected officials such as U.S. Sen. John Fetterman have also spoke about their own mental health struggles. Are we seeing the effects of de-stigmatization in mental health? (link)
A report by Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation highlights the experiences and perspectives of Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) youth in America. Here are some of the highlights:
47% of Gen Z are thriving in their lives -- among the lowest across all generations in the U.S. today and at a much lower rate than millennials at the same age.
65% of Gen Z students with fair or poor mental health have missed school in the past month, compared with 41% of those with excellent mental health.
You can find the full report here (link)
Reads on research
A study that looked at data from 93,263 people aged 65 or over found that having a hobby is linked to fewer depressive symptoms and higher levels of happiness, self-reported health and life satisfaction (link)
A sense of purpose, or the feeling that one’s life is goal-oriented and has direction, is an important factor of good health. A recent study showed that a “person’s sense of purpose declines leading up to and following a diagnosis of dementia or cognitive decline.” By the same token, “the opposite of purpose in life — apathy is a significant problem in dementia.” Caregivers should strive to help involve the person with cognitive impairment by bringing them into activities and taking time to connect with them on a deeper level (link)
Use of mental health care increased substantially during the coronavirus pandemic, as teletherapy lowered barriers to regular visits, according to a large study of insurance claims published Friday in JAMA Health Forum (link)
Reads on policy
In California, a dispute is taking place over a $6 billion mental health bond which removed language that the money would not be used for involuntary confinement. Critics of this change argue that “all forced treatment” causes long-term psychiatric harm and that “people are not progressing with their recovery when it’s against their will” (link)
A disability-rights advocate pleaded with Missouri mental health officials Thursday not to implement a policy change that could freeze pay rates for at-home caregivers relied upon by more than 3,000 individuals around the state (link)
Tech, mental health, and resources 😎
London-based Beckley Waves, which creates and invests in psychedelic startups, obtained $3.3 million in seed funding (link)
New York-based Caraway announced that it has acquired Sesh, a digital group therapy platform, allowing the Gen Z women’s health-focused company to integrate group support and therapy into its offerings (link)
Dallas-based Spark Biomedical disclosed raising $16.2 million of a $21.8 million funding round. The company offers a neurostimulation device that the Food and Drug Administration has cleared to relieve the symptoms of opioid withdrawal. Patients wear a device around their ear for up to 24 hours a day” (link)
In November, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will issue it’s proposed rule on telehealth and controlled substance prescribing. This rule will create regulations “that will shape the future of telehealth within behavioral health in the post-COVID era“ (link)
Answer: $15.3 billion. A significant amount, but down from $29.3 billion in 2021 (link)
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