Availability of Mental Telehealth Services in the U.S.
Telehealth availability for mental health care varies significantly across states, according to a new RAND study. The findings were published in the journal JAMA Health Forum on February 2, 2024. Of the 1,221 facilities (87%) accepting new patients, 980 (80%) reported offering telehealth. Of these, 97% (937 facilities) reported availability of counseling services; 77% (726 facilities), medication management; and 69% (626 facilities) diagnostic services. Telehealth availability did not differ by clinical condition. Researchers found there were differences in services offered depending on whether a mental health treatment facility was located in a rural or metropolitan area. The types of services offered, and the types of telehealth modalities available, also varied widely among clinics, with roughly one in four clinics not offering virtual medication management and about one in three not offering virtual diagnostic services. No significant differences occurred based on the callers’ perceived race and ethnicity.
Lack Of Reliable Transportation For Daily Living Among Adults: United States, 2022
Access to transportation may be required for many daily tasks, including going to work and health care visits. Previous research suggests that a lack of transportation, especially among adults who are older, uninsured, and have lower incomes, leads to reduced access to health care, and adverse health outcomes. Data from the National Health Interview Survey as reported on January 2024 in NCHS Data Brief No. 490 indicate that in 2022, 5.7% of adults lacked reliable transportation for daily living in the past 12 months. Women (6.1%) were more likely than men (5.3%) to lack reliable transportation. The percentage of adults who lacked this means of traveling was lowest among Asian non-Hispanic adults (3.6%) compared with other race and Hispanic-origin groups. Lack of reliable transportation decreased with increasing education level and family income. Adults living in the West North Central region of the U.S.(7.5%) were more likely to lack reliable transportation than the national average (5.7%).
HEALTH TECHNOLOGY CORNER
Alzheimer’s Earlier Disease Detection
Many neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, are difficult to diagnose before symptoms begin to appear. Self-assembly of misfolded proteins can lead to the formation of amyloids, which are implicated in the onset of many pathologies including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. The facile detection and discrimination of different amyloids are crucial for early diagnosis of amyloid-related pathologies. Disease-related biomarkers such as aggregated proteins called amyloids could provide important insight much earlier, however, if they can be readily detected. Researchers publishing on February 5, 2024 in the journal ACS Sensors described how they developed one such method using an array of sensor molecules that can light up amyloids. A fluorescent coumarin-based two-sensor array is able to discriminate correctly between four different amyloids implicated in amyloid-related pathologies The tool could help monitor disease progression or distinguish between different amyloid-related conditions.
The Fate Of Drug Discovery In Academia
Drug discovery is a tedious process taking a long time to divulge whether a molecule is efficacious and specific in hitting the target and then to confirm that the potential drug does not cause severe adverse effects. Many drug candidates fail crossing multiple checkpoints of this long journey, they lag in one or several aspects, and never move beyond the research bench to contribute to public health. Many drug development strategies are rather fuzzy in their advancement. Thus, there is a big gap between drug “discovery” and “development,” that could be attributed to the lack of synergy between academia and industry at multiple levels. A paper published on January 24, 2024 in Oncotarget discusses why many therapeutic molecules never make it to clinical studies despite being proven efficacious pre-clinically. Possible solutions to overcome this défaut of the drug development process also are discussed. Setbacks of this nature make the process of drug discovery time consuming, expensive, and tedious.