Dr. Blech is with the Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Phoenix. The other authors are with the American Psychiatric Association, Arlington, Virginia, where Dr. West and Ms. Barber are with the APA Foundation, Ms. Yang and Ms. Coyle are with the Office of General Counsel, and Dr. Wang is with the Division of Research.
Psychiatr Serv. 2017 Sep 1;68(9):962-965. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201600454. Epub 2017 May 1.
Lack of access to mental health treatment remains a significant problem in the United States, even after implementation of mental health parity legislation. This study examined availability of psychiatrists listed in insurance carrier network provider databases in the Washington, D.C., area.
Contact information was obtained for 1,184 psychiatrists listed in online directories for three of the largest insurance carriers serving the Washington, D.C., area. The "mystery shopper" method was used to assess the accuracy of listed contact information, new outpatient appointment availability, and average wait times for 50 psychiatrists randomly selected from each insurance directory.
Most (77%) physicians were successfully contacted, meaning that someone answered the phone or returned a voice mail message, and 51% of the psychiatrists had working telephone numbers verified to be correct. Fifteen percent of the psychiatrists were accepting new outpatients with the target insurance, with average wait times of 19 days; only 7% were able to schedule an appointment within two weeks.
Inaccuracy of insurance provider directories significantly affected the ability of patients to obtain timely mental care.
尽管实施了精神健康平权法案，但在美国，获得精神健康治疗的机会仍然是一个重大问题。本研究检查了华盛顿特区地区保险商网络提供商数据库中列出的精神科医生的可用性。
从为华盛顿特区地区提供服务的三家最大的保险公司之一的在线目录中获取了 1184 名精神科医生的联系信息。使用“神秘顾客”方法评估列出的联系信息、新的门诊预约可用性以及从每个保险目录中随机选择的 50 名精神科医生的平均等待时间的准确性。
大多数（77%）医生都成功联系上了，这意味着有人接听了电话或回复了语音邮件，51%的精神科医生的工作电话号码被核实是正确的。15%的精神科医生愿意接受目标保险公司的新门诊病人，平均等待时间为 19 天；只有 7%的人能够在两周内预约。
保险提供商目录的不准确极大地影响了患者获得及时精神护理的能力。
