Friday, March 27, 2026

Your daily dose of what matters in therapy, research, and practice.

Between 2023 and 2024, 126 hospitals closed their inpatient psychiatric units -- and the worst may be ahead. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act will slash federal Medicaid spending by an estimated $886.8 billion over the next decade, hitting psychiatric units that already operate at a 37% negative margin hardest. Medicaid covers roughly 15 million nonelderly adults with mental illness, making it the largest insurer for this population. As one advocate put it: "You're not just trimming around the edges; you're undermining the whole structure."

5 min read | Stateline

Telehealth psychiatry startup Blossom Health has raised $20 million in combined Series A and seed funding to scale its AI-powered operating system for psychiatrists. The platform uses agentic AI to streamline medical decision-making, billing, treatment plan personalization, and medication selection -- all working alongside human clinicians, not replacing them. For therapists watching the digital psychiatry space, this signals continued investment in AI tools designed to augment clinical workflows rather than automate care.

3 min read | Behavioral Health Business

Adults over 65 now make up roughly one-fifth of the U.S. population, yet less than half report that their doctor even asked about their mental health. The senior behavioral health market represents a massive, underserved opportunity for providers willing to adapt their services. For practice owners considering expansion, geriatric mental health may be the most consequential gap in the current care landscape.

4 min read | Behavioral Health Business

A new study tracking 372 participants over three months challenges the "depressive realism" hypothesis. Researchers found that people with depression hold genuinely pessimistic expectations about positive events, not more accurate ones. While depressed individuals can update their beliefs when good things happen, these hopeful shifts are fragile and easily reversed. This matters clinically: cognitive restructuring isn't correcting a realistic view -- it's addressing a measurable bias.

6 min read | Behaviour Research and Therapy

Yale researchers found that people with substance use disorders don't simply ignore negative consequences -- they struggle to apply them consistently. In volatile learning contexts where costs fluctuate, individuals with more severe use showed greater decision-making inconsistency rather than reduced sensitivity to consequences. The clinical implication: treatment approaches that help clients build decision-making consistency may be more effective than those focused solely on consequence awareness.

5 min read | Translational Psychiatry

An uncontrolled pre-post study found that group-based Metacognitive Therapy (gMCT) reduced anxiety, excessive worry, and rumination among university students. The approach targets maladaptive metacognitions -- beliefs about thinking itself -- rather than the content of anxious thoughts. While the study lacks a control group, the results add to growing evidence that MCT principles translate effectively to group settings, which matters for clinicians seeking scalable interventions for younger clients.

7 min read | Frontiers in Psychiatry

A new study from Mass General Brigham, Harvard, and Brown finds that telemedicine uptake has not meaningfully increased mental health treatment in rural and low-access areas. Despite the telehealth boom, the patients who stand to benefit most -- those in psychiatric care deserts -- still aren't being reached. The researchers call for targeted policy interventions beyond simply making telehealth available, since access requires more than a platform.

4 min read | Healthcare IT News

Australian health-tech company Heidi has released a wearable microphone designed specifically for AI-assisted clinical documentation. The 21-gram device clips onto clinical attire, offers 14 hours of battery life, and captures reliable audio in noisy environments without requiring a phone or laptop. For therapists already using or considering AI scribes, dedicated hardware could solve the audio quality issues that make ambient listening tools unreliable in real-world clinical settings.

3 min read | MobiHealthNews

The Federal Trade Commission announced a new Healthcare Task Force aimed at taking a more coordinated approach to enforcing practices that "protect American patients, healthcare workers and taxpayers." The focus on technology signals that AI tools, data practices, and digital health platforms in behavioral health may face increased regulatory scrutiny. For practices adopting new tech, compliance and transparency should be front of mind.

3 min read | Healthcare IT News

EMDRIA asked its members one simple question: "What is a Phase 2 tip or best practice that you would share with a colleague?" The responses are a masterclass in clinical generosity. From Dr. Ashley Austin's insights on preparation techniques with transgender and nonbinary clients to practitioners sharing their go-to resourcing exercises, the thread reads like a warm, informal consultation group. It's a reminder that some of the best clinical wisdom still travels the old-fashioned way -- clinician to clinician.

5 min read | EMDRIA

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