Behavioral Health

The 2025-2028 Draft Action Plan for Addressing Shortages of Medical Products and Critical Foods and Strengthening the Resilience of Medical Product and Critical Food Supply Chains (“Draft Action Plan”) presents coordinated and strategic actions that the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS,” or “Department”) plans to take from 2025 through 2028.

This brief summarizes results of interviews and focus groups with participants in human services programs about how they view extreme weather and other environmental hazards and their effects on families and communities. Participants discussed acute hazards such as flooding, as well as more chronic problems such as widespread trash, heat, poor air and water quality, and lead.

The National Guidelines for Behavioral Health Crisis Care from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) call for a sustainable infrastructure to respond to behavioral health crises, through crisis services that are accessible to anyone, anywhere, at any time.

Interviews were held with key informants from harm reduction organizations or similar programs from across the United States, to better understand how they are responding to the presence of xylazine in their communities. All participants noted an increase in xylazine prevalence in their communities, ranging from a years-long problem to first being identified in early 2023.

Congress has directed HHS to operate the Children’s Interagency Coordinating Council (CICC). The CICC is charged with fostering greater coordination and transparency on child policy across federal agencies and examining a broad array of cross-cutting issues affecting child poverty and child well-being.

Custody relinquishment occurs when children enter foster care primarily to receive behavioral health or disability services, not because of maltreatment. Parents may relinquish custody for a variety of reasons. Entering foster care could provide children with access to services that are otherwise unavailable due to limited capacity.

KEY POINTS

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis and treatment among adults in the United States have increased over the past few decades. However, there are gender, racial, and ethnic disparities in diagnosis and treatment, and underdiagnosis persists.

In light of the continuing opioid epidemic in the United States, DEA lifted a moratorium on approvals of new mobile medication units (MMUs) to increase access to OTPs. The new DEA guidance also authorized OTPs to add a “mobile component” to their existing registration, eliminating the separate registration requirement for MMUs.

Over one million Americans rely on nursing homes for care, yet nursing homes face challenges in recruiting and retaining staff. Nursing homes rely on registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and nursing assistants (NAs) to provide care, but staff shortages that increased during the COVID-19 pandemic have persisted.