Anxiety-related visits in pediatric primary care up 300% since 2014; Medicare Advantage broker payment may have hit $10B annually; California man pleads guilty to stealing $1M in pandemic relief funds – Morning Medical Update

Anxiety-related visits in pediatric primary care jumped 300% over the past decade

A study of 1.8 million Massachusetts children found mental health diagnoses in primary care visits rose steadily from 2014 to 2023.

Children's mental health concerns are showing up in primary care offices at a dramatically higher rate than a decade ago, with anxiety-related visits rising 300% between 2014 and 2023, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open. Researchers analyzed health insurance claims for approximately 1.8 million insured children ages 1 to 18 in Massachusetts and found that primary care visits including a mental health diagnosis climbed from about 6 per 100 children in 2014 to nearly 10 per 100 children in 2023.

ADHD remained the most common mental health condition addressed in those visits. The authors say the trend reflects both a genuine rise in children's mental health needs and the difficulty families face accessing specialty mental health care — making primary care an increasingly critical point of intervention.

"With the right training and support, primary care practices can help screen, diagnose, and treat mental health conditions or connect families to care," said senior author Megan Cole, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute. The researchers call for greater mental health training and resources in pediatric primary care, including integrated care models that bring mental health services directly into primary care settings. Patient Care Online has more.

Medicare Advantage broker payments may have hit $10 billion a year, study finds

Payments more than doubled between 2014 and 2022, with renewals, not new enrollments, driving the bulk of broker commissions.

Payments to Medicare Advantage insurance brokers may have reached $10 billion annually by 2022, more than double the approximately $3.9 billion paid in 2014, according to a research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine by health policy scholars at Brown University. The analysis, which drew on data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, found that broker involvement in Medicare Advantage enrollment grew from 36% of first-time enrollees in 2014 to 44% in 2022. Notably, renewals rather than new enrollments drove the majority of broker spending — by 2022, 74% of all broker commissions came from annual renewal payments rather than active enrollment decisions.

"A lot of brokers are getting paid not for helping a beneficiary make an active choice of what plan to enroll in, but just collecting on that choice after the fact," said lead author David Meyers, Ph.D., M.P.H., of Brown University. The study raises questions about whether brokers may steer seniors toward higher-commission plans rather than those that best meet their needs. CMS attempted to impose limits on broker compensation but the rule was struck down in federal court in 2024. Medicare Advantage now covers more than half of all Medicare beneficiaries nationwide.

California medical company owner pleads guilty to stealing $1M in pandemic relief funds

Mehrdad Tabrizi used a shuttered company to fraudulently obtain PPP and EIDL loans. He then spent $60,000 on a Porsche.

The owner of two Southern California medical transport companies has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering for stealing more than $1 million in COVID-19 pandemic relief funds by submitting fraudulent loan applications on behalf of businesses that were either defunct or ineligible. Mehrdad Tabrizi, sole owner of Life Fleet Inc. and Resonante Group, applied for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans by falsely claiming Life Fleet had active employees and wages in 2019 and 2020 — when in fact the company had been shuttered since 2018. He also submitted fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) applications for both companies, falsely claiming prior revenues.

In total, Tabrizi fraudulently obtained approximately $1,016,365 in Small Business Administration (SBA) funds. In May 2020, he withdrew $60,000 of the proceeds to help purchase a 2019 Porsche Turbo Cabriolet. He is scheduled for sentencing in September, and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for each wire fraud count, plus 10 years for money laundering.