Mental Health Service Utilization Rates Among Commercially Insured Adults in the US During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

IMPORTANCE

The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with an elevated prevalence of mental health conditions and disrupted mental health care throughout the US.

OBJECTIVE

To examine mental health service use among US adults from January through December 2020.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cohort study used county-level service utilization data from a national US database of commercial medical claims from adults (age >18 years) from January 5 to December 21, 2020. All analyses were conducted in April and May 2021.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

Per-week use of mental health services per 10 000 beneficiaries was calculated for 5 psychiatric diagnostic categories: major depressive disorder (MDD), anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, adjustment disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Changes in service utilization rates following the declaration of a national public health emergency on March 13, 2020, were examined overall and by service modality (in-person vs telehealth), diagnostic category, patient sex, and age group.

RESULTS

The study included 5 142 577 commercially insured adults. The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with more than a 50% decline in in-person mental health care service utilization rates. At baseline, there was a mean (SD) of 11.66 (118.00) weekly beneficiaries receiving services for MDD per 10 000 enrollees; this declined by 6.44 weekly beneficiaries per 10 000 enrollees (β, -6.44; 95% CI, -8.33 to -4.54). For other disorders, these rates were as follows: anxiety disorders (mean [SD] baseline, 12.24 [129.40] beneficiaries per 10 000 enrollees; β, -5.28; 95% CI, -7.50 to -3.05), bipolar disorder (mean [SD] baseline, 3.32 [60.39] beneficiaries per 10 000 enrollees; β, -1.81; 95% CI, -2.75 to -0.87), adjustment disorders (mean [SD] baseline, 12.14 [129.94] beneficiaries per 10 000 enrollees; β, -6.78; 95% CI, -8.51 to -5.04), and PTSD (mean [SD] baseline, 4.93 [114.23] beneficiaries per 10 000 enrollees; β, -2.00; 95% CI, -3.98 to -0.02). Over the same period, there was a 16- to 20-fold increase in telehealth service utilization; the rate of increase was lowest for bipolar disorder (mean [SD] baseline, 0.13 [16.72] beneficiaries per 10 000 enrollees; β, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.04-1.76) and highest for anxiety disorders (mean [SD] baseline, 0.20 [9.28] beneficiaries per 10 000 enrollees; β, 9.12; 95% CI, 7.32-10.92). When combining in-person and telehealth service utilization rates, an overall increase in care for MDD, anxiety, and adjustment disorders was observed over the period.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

In this cohort study of US adults, we found that the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a rapid increase in telehealth services for mental health conditions, offsetting a sharp decline in in-person care and generating overall higher service utilization rates for several mental health conditions compared with prepandemic levels.