Center for Mental Health Services Research, Brown School of Social Work and Public Health, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Community Ment Health J. 2024 Jan;60(1):88-97. doi: 10.1007/s10597-023-01127-9. Epub 2023 Apr 25.
Community Mental Health Centers (CMHCs) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) are critical access points for families with adolescents needing mental health care, especially those enrolled in Medicaid. However, barriers exist which may reduce their accessibility. This study aims to describe the availability and accessibility of outpatient mental health services for children and adolescents at safety-net health centers in a large metropolitan county. Approximately one year after the COVID-19 pandemic began in the U.S., a comprehensive sample of 117 CMHCs and 117 FQHCs were called and administered a 5-minute survey. Approximately 10% of health centers were closed, and 20% (28.2% of FQHCs and 7.7% of CMHCs) reported not offering outpatient mental health services. Despite CMHCs having 5.4 more clinicians on staff on average, reported wait times were longer at CMHCs than FQHCs. These findings indicate that online directories intended to be a comprehensive and accessible resource, such as the SAMHSA Treatment Locator, are often inaccurate or out-of-date.
社区心理健康中心 (CMHCs) 和联邦合格的健康中心 (FQHCs) 是有青少年需要心理健康护理的家庭，特别是那些参加医疗补助计划的家庭的重要服务渠道。然而，存在一些障碍可能会降低它们的可及性。本研究旨在描述在一个大城市县的医疗保障服务网络中的心理健康中心为儿童和青少年提供门诊心理健康服务的可及性和可获得性。在美国 COVID-19 大流行开始大约一年后，对 117 家 CMHC 和 117 家 FQHC 进行了全面抽样，并对他们进行了 5 分钟的调查。大约 10%的健康中心关闭，20%（28.2%的 FQHC 和 7.7%的 CMHC）报告不提供门诊心理健康服务。尽管 CMHCs 的员工平均多 5.4 名临床医生，但 CMHCs 的等待时间却比 FQHCs 长。这些发现表明，旨在成为一个全面和可及的资源的在线目录，如 SAMHSA 治疗定位器，往往是不准确或过时的。
