From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— Mental illness among young adults in the state is on the rise, exceeding the national rate, the Wisconsin Office of Children’s Mental Health reports.
The office today issued its 2025 Annual Report on Children’s Mental Health and Belonging and delivered a briefing on its findings at the state Capitol.
Most of the quality of life indicators captured in the report have worsened over the past five years, with the largest jump seen in rates of adults aged 18-25 experiencing any kind of mental illness.
The state’s baseline rate of 29% for this measure — generally based on data from five years ago — has risen to 41% in the latest report, which the office calls a substantial increase. That brings Wisconsin above the national rate of 35%.
At the same time, the rate of high schoolers in the state feeling sad or hopeless rose from 29% to 35% over the same period, though that remains below the national rate of 40%.
All other quality of life indicators except for one worsened by a smaller percentage or remained the same over the five-year comparison period. These include the percentage of children with emotional, behavioral or developmental conditions, the share of youth experiencing a major depressive episode and high school students with anxiety.
The sole exception is the rate of LGBTQ youth seriously considering suicide, which dipped from 42% to 39%, matching the U.S. rate. But report authors added a comment to that figure, noting more recent national trend data show nearly half of all LGBTQ youth considered suicide.
Meanwhile, indicators of clinical care quality showed improvement in the numbers of psychiatrists, school nurses, school social workers, school counselors and school psychologists compared to five years ago.
But the report also shows it’s becoming harder to get treatment for kids ages 3-17 with mental conditions. The percentage of those experiencing difficulty with this jumped from 45% to 60% over the study period, exceeding the national rate of 56%.
Indicators of health behaviors were somewhat mixed. While fewer students are drinking alcohol, according to the report, vaping is on the rise. The share of students that currently vape rose from 12% to 16%, well above the national rate of 5%.
See the report.
— Rivermark Medical is making steady progress enrolling participants in an FDA clinical trial of the Milwaukee company’s device for men with prostate issues.
The business is targeting a condition called benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH, also known simply as an enlarged prostate. Its FloStent product is meant to address the symptoms of BPH, restoring urinary flow while preserving further treatment options for patients.
That’s according to President and CEO Dr. Adam Kadlec, a urologist who spoke yesterday during a luncheon held by the Wisconsin Technology Council in Milwaukee. He gave an update on the company’s progress since launching in 2021, which includes raising $36 million.
“At the time we concepted of it, there really wasn’t anything on the market,” he said. “We’re getting pretty close. There’s actually a couple other prostatic stents [that] got FDA approved last month … this kind of product space has materialized.”
He stressed the importance of keeping options open for patients with the FloStent device. Many BPH patients are primarily treated with daily medications, but Kadlec said that indefinite treatment regimen can cause side effects and become less effective over time.
“For a long time, there’s been kind of a gap between medication and operation, and there are a number of medical devices that fit into that space,” he said. “When I was in practice, I was doing a lot of them. You’d present this menu of options to the patients, and as that menu got bigger, it became harder for them to decide what was the right thing to do.”
Kadlec says a “fundamental problem” with standard treatment is the irreversibility of surgery.
“I would often tell them, we can take you to surgery and that can be a very good thing, but once I do it, I can’t undo it,” he said. “So this concept of a stent-based technology that could be delivered … using equipment that urologists already have in the office and that they’re familiar using.”
The next big milestone for the business will be completing enrollment of its FDA trial, Kadlec said. Rivermark Medical is about two-thirds finished with that process. The 215-patient study takes about a year to fully enroll participants, and a year to obtain the data, he explained.
“We’ve had a very good run … we’ve come a long way,” he said. “We still have quite a bit to do.”
The company last year announced it had enrolled the first participant in the RAPID III clinical trial, which will evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the company’s product. See more on the study here.
— U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, was one of 17 Republicans to join Democrats in voting to pass a bill to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies for three years.
The House approved the extension 230-196 yesterday afternoon. Van Orden’s swingy 3rd CD is one of Dem’s top targets to flip this year.
Van Orden in a statement said he backed the measure to ensure Wisconsinites maintain health care access and don’t have to pay increased rates.
On Wednesday, he voted against bringing the measure to the House floor.
“I will not sit back and watch my constituents lose access to health care or face massive premium hikes because Democrats refuse to take responsibility for their failures,” Van Orden said. “I should not have to vote for a temporary patch to a broken system, but I will always put the people of Wisconsin first.”
The Dem group Opportunity Wisconsin earlier this week began a $420,000 buy that included a TV ad knocking Van Orden over the expiration of the subsidies.
Dem Rebecca Cooke, one of three Dems seeking to unseat Van Orden, said the incumbent “spent months attacking” the tax credits he voted to extend.
“He has repeatedly called for repealing the Affordable Care Act and has refused to put forward a single proposal to lower health care costs for hardworking families. Today’s vote is too little too late from someone who voted to slash Badgercare for thousands of his constituents and refused to lift a finger as rural hospitals in our community closed,” Cooke said.
Top Stories
– Your next primary care doctor could be online only, accessed through an AI tool
– Johnson & Johnson announces drug pricing deal with Trump administration
– The GOP’s Obamacare defectors were more numerous than expected
– RFK Jr.’s vaccine moves put new focus on patchwork of state school standards
– Some flu measures decline, but it’s not clear this severe season has peaked
– Schrodinger to offer Eli Lilly’s AI drug discovery platform on its software
Press Releases
– U.S. Rep. Fitzgerald: Votes against Obamacare bailout
– A Better Wisconsin Together: Tom Tiffany votes to take healthcare away from 60,000 Wisconsinites
