Top health news in 2022

Published 1:30 am Monday, January 2, 2023

This year, Snohomish County faced a tripledemic, mental health challenges, an ongoing drug crisis, and financial and staffing upheaval for health care providers. But 2023 arrives with the hope of more resources for behavioral health treatment and prevention, more access to health insurance and a new county public health department.

• COVID continues to evolve as a virus and as a public health issue: killing people and disrupting lives in the short- and long-term. We started the year with omicron, then masks came off and we ended the year with bivalent boosters.

• The tripledemic of viruses in late 2022 — COVID, RSV, and the flu — led to renewed calls for vaccinations and masking indoors. The good news: the number of confirmed flu cases continued to decline in Washington for the week ending Dec. 24.

• The opioid epidemic continues, with deaths from fentanyl tripling from 2018 to 2021 in Snohomish County. A slim silver lining: the county and cities are spending some American Rescue Plan Act money on behavioral health, and coordinating how to spend opioid settlement funds for treatment, prevention and other services.

• The state launched a suicide and crisis hotline in July, and later a Native and Strong Lifeline dedicated to American Indian and Alaska Native peoples in November. One of the three call centers is in Everett.

• The kids are not alright. The Healthy Youth Survey documented behavioral health challenges among youth in the county, with increases in depression and suicide ideation among 12th graders, and high rates of anxiety and depression among both 10th and 12th graders.

• The adults aren’t doing great either. An annual survey of Snohomish County residents in 2022 shows a decline in health & well-being, according to the Providence Institute for a Healthier Community. This decline was driven by “lower overall satisfaction with mental and emotional well-being,” and “lower self-reported life satisfaction and overall well-being.”

• Community Health Centers and the Edmonds School District partnered to open the first school-based clinic in the county, offering medical, dental and behavioral health services. In the district, 19% of 12th graders reported suicide ideation last year.

• A state law now allows students to take excused absences for mental health-related reasons.

• The Snohomish Health District and the county approved a merger to hopefully enhance public health services for residents. The merger will be complete Jan. 1.

• The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, putting reproductive rights in the hands of states. A move is under way in Washington to put on the ballot a constitutional amendment to protect those rights.

• The Washington state attorney general sued Providence Swedish, including the Everett and Edmonds hospitals, over patient charity care and debt collection policies and practices.

• A new state law went into effect in July, expanding access to hospital charity care.

• Regence and Optum (The Everett Clinic and Polyclinic) hit a contract impasse that is still leading to uncertainty for Medicare Advantage members.

• Washington’s Cascade Care Savings health plans went live with a new tax credit for 2023, offering affordable health insurance to folks who earn too much for Medicaid. The state estimated that 90% of health benefit exchange customers in Snohomish County could find a cheaper plan for 2023.

• Washington received approval to extend the time from 60 days to 12 months for post-partum care that can be covered by Medicaid. About 3,000 people were enrolled in “pregnant women’s coverage” in Snohomish County as of November.

• The health care staffing crisis continues, leading to long wait times for patients, maxed out capacity – especially for children – and high labor costs for health care employers. A controversial nurse staffing ratio bill failed to pass again in 2022. Supporters will make another run at it in 2023.

•Washington hospital leaders repeatedly raised alarms about their dire financial situation, calling for state and federal changes to increase reimbursements and decrease costs.

Would you like to share a personal story about any of these issues? Call or email Joy Borkholder.

We’re also planning to report on access to health care in 2023. If you have faced barriers to accessing timely, convenient and/or affordable care in Snohomish County, please fill out this brief form: forms.gle/DcgfccCvwqVTh6Sk7

Joy Borkholder is the health and wellness reporter for The Daily Herald. Her work is supported by the Health Reporting Initiative, which is sponsored in part by Premera Blue Cross. The Daily Herald maintains editorial control over content produced through this initiative.

Joy Borkholder: 425-339-3430; joy.borkholder@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @jlbinvestigates.