Patients who are in need of but do not receive mental health or substance use care are significantly more common than patients needing but not receiving physical healthcare, according to a patient experience survey published July 18 from NORC at the University of Chicago.
The survey collected close to 3,000 responses across 26 behavioral health consumer organizations.
It revealed 57 percent of patients who seek mental healthcare do not receive care, compared with 32 percent of patients who seek but do not receive physical healthcare. The numbers were even more profound when looking at children and teens under 18: 69 percent did not receive mental healthcare, and only 17 percent did not receive physical healthcare.
A major barrier to receiving is difficulty finding an in-network provider who is accepting new patients.
When seeking mental healthcare, 40 percent of patients had to contact at least four in-network providers before being able to schedule an appointment, compared with 14 percent for physical care. Furthermore, 80 percent of patients with employer-sponsored plans said they have to go out-of-network "all of the time" to obtain appointments, compared with just 6 percent for physical care.
The lack of in-network providers, difficulty of scheduling appointments, and cost of using an out-of-network provider all contribute to the high percentage of patients seeking but not receiving mental healthcare.