Suicide rates in the United States increased approximately 36% between 2000 and 2022, according to updated data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Suicide was responsible for just under 50,000 deaths in 2022 (the last year with complete statistics) — an all-time high. As this appalling trend continues, offering mental health assessments and care in primary care settings could help save lives.
As physicians, we pride ourselves on being able to care for patients by way of our knowledge, skill, and expertise. It’s frustrating and disempowering when we can’t help an individual who needs mental health care due to a shortage of effective, affordable, and culturally competent mental health providers. Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are working to address this barrier with the Connecting Our Medical Providers with Links to Expand Tailored and Effective (COMPLETE) Care Act, federal legislation that would bring mental health care into primary care visits to address this gap.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Roshni Koli and Christine Yu Moutier
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://www.statnews.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.