The Health Resources and Services Administration this week awarded $12.4 million to help states expand access to behavioral health care for children and pregnant women. The funding will help 18 states integrate behavioral health into pediatric primary care using telehealth, and seven states screen and treat pregnant and postpartum women for depression and other behavioral health conditions. In other news, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week reported 918 congenital syphilis cases in 2017, more than double the number in 2013. “When passed to a baby, syphilis can result in miscarriage, newborn death, and severe lifelong physical and mental health problems,” noted Jonathan Mermin, M.D., director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention. The agency said the data underscore the need for early prenatal care with syphilis testing at the first visit and follow-up testing for women at high risk of infection.

Related News Articles

Headline
The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury May 15 announced that they will not enforce the 2024 mental health parity final rule, a…
Headline
Overdose deaths in the U.S. fell 26.9% last year to 80,391, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency reported…
Headline
Beth Heinz, senior vice president, Women’s and Children’s Services at Yale New Haven Health, and Cheri Johnson, chief nursing officer, Woman’s Hospital in…
Headline
Zaira Khalid, M.D., senior staff geriatric psychiatrist at Henry Ford Behavioral Health Hospital, discusses the unique physical, emotional and social needs of…
Blog
One of our best strategies to address the unique behavioral health challenges and demands of pregnant women and new mothers is recognizing that mental health…
Headline
Women & Infants Hospital's Shannon Sullivan, president and chief operating officer, and Caron Zlotnick, Ph.D., director of behavioral medicine research,…