Jay Weaver, PharmD, MPH, and Mona Chitre, PharmD, CGP, discuss the increased demand for mental health services since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mona Chitre, PharmD, CGP: Demand for mental health services soared during the pandemic. We had so many challenges with how the pandemic impacted daily life, isolation, the way we worked, the way we went to school, and the death and morbidity of the virus itself. We saw increases in mental health requests from the pediatric population all the way up to the geriatric population, which triggered a number of changes within the health plan. We increased access to telemedicine and behavioral health services. We focused on ensuring that our members in our community were aware of their social well-being, their mental health, and their physical health. We’ve seen decreases from the pandemic highs in our mental health requests, but the utilization and requests for mental health services continue to be higher than pre–COVID-19.
Jay Weaver, PharmD, MPH: Within our plan, we saw a surge in the mental health services requests not only from the practitioner side but also for other types of care management and other services related to seeking services for the first time. Sometimes we saw drops in medication adherence despite having more opportunities for refills, people being home, moving people to mail-order pharmacy and those types of things, and trying to push out medications to make sure folks were being cared for with some of the uncertainty around being able to present to a retail pharmacy. We also saw change in the ability of folks to see practitioners within an office. Telehealth became a larger demand in that time as well. We pushed out a number of services so that folks could be cared for in their home for counseling and other psychology services.
Transcript edited for clarity.
MINT Trial 26-Week Data Show Inebilizumab for gMG Is Effective and Safe
April 1st 2025These are data to week 26 on the monoclonal antibody and antineoplastic agent; data out to week 52 of the MINT trial will be presented in a late-breaking oral session at the upcoming American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting.
Read More
FDA Approves Cabozantinib for Advanced Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors
March 26th 2025With strong progression-free survival benefits demonstrated in the CABINET trial and updates to National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines, this approval reinforces cabozantinib’s role in improving outcomes for patients facing these challenging cancers.
Read More
PAH Therapies Improve Outcomes in PH-ILD
March 26th 2025Pulmonary hypertension is a common consequence of interstitial lung disease (PH-ILD), with the highest rate seen among individuals who have idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Overall, most cases of PH in the setting of ILD are mild.
Read More