|
|
|
|
|
Progress in Addressing COVID Impacts on Behavioral Health
Released in April 2020, Pine Rest's whitepaper (Preparing Michigan for the Behavioral Health Impact of COVID-19) outlined why Michigan could face a surge in suicide, but also offered a range of concrete solutions to address the risks and called on Michigan healthcare providers, public health officers, policy makers, funders, payers and the public to take immediate action. The whitepaper was recently updated to take into account changes in infection and death rates from COVID-19 since first publication.
The report calls for a comprehensive approach to increase access to care, including scaling up teletherapy and telepsychiatry, informing Michiganders and referral sources about the availability of these care options and how to find them, and maintaining financial incentives such as waivers for co-pays for these services. Pine Rest leadership has been working with colleagues and partners in public health and healthcare throughout the state in an effort to build awareness and prompt action.
Last month, Governor Whitmer signed a package of bills (HB 5412-16) that collectively increase Michigander’s access to health care by requiring health insurers to cover telemedicine without first requiring an in-person visit. In that package, HB 5414 adds a definition of telemedicine to the state’s Mental Health Code. Read more on the MSMS website.
Some payers are extending $0 cost sharing telehealth services for behavioral health through December 31, 2020, including:
|
|
|
Child & Adolescent Inpatient Testing
We have begun requiring COVID-19 testing for the Child & Adolescent unit before admission. Please call 616.455.9200 or 800.678.5500 (answered 24/7) for directions on how to get this testing completed.
|
|
|
Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Program
Reopening on Tuesday, July 21
The Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Program will reopen on Tuesday, July 21 for ages 13 through 17. Please call the Contact Center at 616.455.9200 or 800.678.5500 (answered 24/7) to set up an initial assessment.
|
|
|
The Effects of Isolation on Mental Health
In June, President & CEO of Pine Rest Dr. Mark Eastburg was interviewed by Chuck Gaidica for the podcast, A Healthier Michigan. The topic was “The Effects of Isolation on Mental Health.” Isolation is a factor that can increase suicide risk.
"...the sense of loneliness, particularly people in high-risk groups who’ve had to be really strict about socially isolating," said Eastburg. "People like seniors, who are over 80 years old, who, in the case of my dad, has had almost no contact other than digitally with people outside. When we’re isolating in place, we’re really disrupting the balance of our lives … and a lot of those things we rely on [to help us cope] have been taken away. It’s really a sense of loss for a lot of people.”
Quarantine is an abrupt change that affects different people in different ways. “With kids, you can see [them] acting out new troublesome behaviors,” explained Eastburg. “We are also seeing an increase of couples that are coming to us for couple’s therapy… The togetherness there, it’s thrown off the fragile balance that some couples have.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
