APA study suggests mental health care access is limited in DC area

ATLANTA — Recent findings presented here indicate more than 80% of psychiatrists within networks of some of the largest carriers in the Health Insurance Exchange Network in Washington, D.C. were either not reachable or unable to schedule a new visit, suggesting access to psychiatric health care is limited.

In response to complaints that patients are unable to find available psychiatrists in their network, the American Psychiatric Association collaborated with the APA Foundation to conduct a study of the three largest health insurance plans in the health insurance exchange in Washington, D.C.

To assess the proportion of psychiatrists able to schedule an appointment for a mental health outpatient visit and the number of days to schedule an appointment, researchers called a random sample of 150 psychiatrists publicly listed as network psychiatrists.

Among all network psychiatrists, 23% of phone numbers did not work or were unresponsive and never returned any messages over 7 days.

Saul Levin

Fifty-one percent of psychiatrists were practicing at listed phone numbers.

Fourteen percent of callers were able to schedule appointments.

The average wait time for a new outpatient appointment was approximately 3 weeks and only 7% of psychiatrists were able to schedule a new outpatient appointment within 2 weeks.

Overall, 86% of network psychiatrists were not reachable or unable to schedule a new outpatient mental health visit.

“This study shows us that many people are not able to access needed care and people are paying for mental health care they cannot access,” Saul Levin, MD, MPA, CEO and medical director of the APA, said in a press release. “The Affordable Care Act is intended to expand access to mental health and substance use disorder care, yet networks are shrinking both because psychiatrists are dropping out of the networks citing unreasonable administrative burden and low payment rates as reasons and because plans are ‘narrowing their networks’ while providing robust directories of providers to attract purchasers to the plan.” – by Amanda Oldt

Reference:

American Psychiatric Association. Availability of health insurance exchange network of psychiatrists for the largest insurance carriers in Washington, D.C. Presented at: American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting; May 14-18, 2016; Atlanta.

Disclosure: Healio.com/Psychiatry could not confirm relevant financial disclosures at the time of publication.