About two-thirds of U.S. primary care physicians reported in 2004-05 that they couldn't get outpatient mental health services for their patients--a rate that was at least twice as high as for other services, according to a national study funded by the Commonwealth Fund and published as a web exclusive in the journal Health Affairs.
The study found that more than half of the primary care physicians reporting problems getting mental health services for their patients cited lack of or inadequate insurance coverage, health plan barriers, and shortages of mental health providers as "very important" reasons their patients couldn't get care.
The survey asked physicians about their ability to obtain the following services for their patients: outpatient mental health services, referrals to other specialists, diagnostic imaging services, and nonemergency hospital admissions. Almost 67 percent of the primary care physicians reported they couldn't get mental health services for their patients, compared with 33.8 percent reporting they couldn't get specialist referrals, 29.8 percent reporting they couldn't get diagnostic imaging, and 16.8 percent reporting they couldn't get nonemergency hospital admissions.
Read the study.
