Study: Barriers to mental health services include coverage, lack of providers

The number of primary care physicians who report difficulty obtaining mental health services for their patients has risen dramatically in recent years and mental health parity laws are only part of the solution,  according to a new Commonwealth Fund-sponsored study conducted by the Center for the Study of Health System Change (Source: “Beyond Parity: Primary Care Physicians' Perspectives On Access To Mental Health Care,” Health Affairs, April 14, 2009).

Using data from the 2004–05 Community Tracking Study Physician Survey, the study’s authors found than two-thirds of primary care doctors were unable to obtain outpatient mental health services for their patient. About 3,400 primary care doctors responded to the survey.

The percentage of physicians who reported difficulty securing mental health services for their patients is more the double the proportion that reported difficulty accessing other specialists.  At the same time, it is estimated that only about one-third of individuals needing mental health services are reciving them, according to the study.

The study found that 59 percent of doctors surveyed said a lack of coverage was a very important reason for their difficulty in securing services, while a similar proportion reported a lack of providers as a very important reason. However, “In states that have enacted mental health parity legislation, physicians were slightly less likely to report plan barriers and inadequate coverage as challenges than in states where there were no parity laws,” according to a Commonwealth Fund synopsis of the research.

Then-Governor Robert Taft signed a mental health parity bill into law in Ohio in late 2006.