The demand for mental health treatment on university campuses continues to increase. This report will outline sources of increased demand and how traditional campus-based models have managed it. It will then describe the University of Southern California's work mobilizing resources to develop a unique model for insurance based long-term care…

Youth with mental illness struggle to receive essential behavioral health care. One obstacle is denial of coverage by insurance. In California, managed care consumers may apply for independent medical review (IMR) which potentially overturns an insurance denial through the California Department of Managed Healthcare (CDMHC). The authors aim to…

To identify the state-level policies and policy domains that state policymakers and advocates perceive as most important for positively impacting the use of children's mental health services (CMHS). We used a modified Delphi technique (i.e., two rounds of questionnaires and an interview) during Spring 2021 to elicit perceptions among state mental…

Wraparound programs that provide comprehensive evidence-based outpatient treatment, transportation, social services, and housing supports have shown promise for improving clinical behavioral health-related outcomes to reduce the need for institutionalized care; however, the majority of evidence is based on wraparound programs for children. This…

Children in the United States are facing unprecedented mental health challenges. In October 2021, First Focus on Children joined other leading children's health organizations to declare a national state of emergency regarding child mental health in the Sound the Alarm campaign, and in December 2021, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory…

In May 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released new guidance on school Medicaid that is a clear victory for school health and student health. It affirms that states have flexibility in their school-based Medicaid program to allow school districts to bill Medicaid for health services delivered to all Medicaid-enrolled…

Telemental health services have become more pressing for higher education students since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The extent of that need, and barriers to accessing care, remain uncertain -- including demographic inequities. Between June 2020 and December 2021, public university students (N = 1441) were surveyed about demographic…

Little is known about the extent to which the healthcare needs of autistic older adults with intellectual disability differ from autistic older adults without intellectual disability. We conducted a cross-sectional retrospective cohort study of Medicare claims data from 2016 to 2017 to compare the prevalence of physical and mental health…

Background: Medicaid is a key policy lever for expanding access to mental health services and supports for children in schools, especially low-income and minority children. This study examines how Medicaid finances mental health promotion and prevention (tier 1), screening and selected interventions (tier 2), and treatment (tier 3) in schools,…

Objective: Examine how student demographics and perception of on-campus counseling service availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality is related to utilization. Participants: A total of 262 students from 49 Georgia (U.S.) higher education institutions. Methods: A logistic regression examined student perception of on-campus counseling…

Nationally, there is a mounting interest in better understanding students identified as having an emotional disturbance. Since 2005, clinical diagnosis and treatment of mental health issues in children has trended upward. Nationally, over that same timeframe, the number of students who qualify for special education due to an emotional disturbance…

Parenting students work hard every day to pursue their goals, often juggling work, classes, and caregiving responsibilities. Public systems and programs can provide critical support, but frequently create additional hurdles for parenting students and their families-- especially those with low incomes. In 2022, the Center for the Study of Social…

Research indicates that youth with autism spectrum disorder often experience unmet health care needs and receive poorer quality of care. Intellectual disability commonly co-occurs with autism spectrum disorder; however, the nature of unmet health care needs and health care quality in youth with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability…

Despite a rise in the observed prevalence of autism spectrum disorder among children, few estimates exist of the share of US outpatient mental health treatment facilities that provide services for children with autism spectrum disorder. We identified key facility- and county-level characteristics in offering mental health care for children with…

This interpretative phenomenological analysis explored licensed professional counselors' experiences of turning away Medicare beneficiaries because of the current Medicare mental health policy. Researchers used semi-structured interviews to explore the client-level barriers created by federal legislation that determines professional counselors as…