January 23, 2023 – Accessing behavioral health services in the United States is becoming increasingly difficult even as the need for such services keeps growing. Some healthcare decision-makers believe that primary care practices can help fill that void. But can they shoulder the task, given the staffing and reimbursement challenges of behavioral health?
“Integrating behavioral health with primary care aims to increase access as well as reduce the stigma associated with seeking mental health treatment,” says Sterling Ransone, M.D., FAAFP, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. “Without a system in place to routinely screen for behavioral health conditions and substance use disorder in the primary care setting, we will miss opportunities to address problems that threaten the health and well-being of our patients, families and communities.”
Fifteen to twenty percent of adults in the United States report diagnoses of depression or mental illness, and 10% to 15% report suffering severe psychological distress in the past year, according to a recent report from the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care, a Washington, D.C.-based clinical research group.
COVID-19 exacerbated the situation. Data from the U.S. Government Accountability Office shows that the pandemic increased social isolation and stress, and contributed to higher rates of anxiety and depression symptoms and increased substance use in the U.S. Yet fewer than 50% of those with a mental illness reported receiving care in the past year.
Read more in the latest issue of the Journal of Healthcare Contracting.