Survey Reveals Stark Difficulty in Obtaining Appointments With Child Psychiatrists

Calls to hundreds of child psychiatrists listed as in-network with Blue Cross –Blue Shield (BCBS) in three major U.S. cities led to appointments for children just 11% of the time, according to theresults of a “secret shopper” survey published inPsychiatric Services.Phone numbers were frequently wrong, many psychiatrists were no longer accepting new patients, and other calls went unanswered. Moreover, the average wait time for a visit was more than a month, and few of the psychiatrists contacted were willing to accept patients who were covered by Medicaid.“[O]ur results confirm what many already know: In the midst of a mental health crisis, having insurance is not enough to guarantee access to mental health care when it is needed,” wrote Victoria Chen, B.S., B.A., and Christina Aldrich Barrera, M.D., both of Baylor College of Medicine, and collea gues.The researchers called 322 psychiatrists listed as in-network by Blue Cross-Blue Shield in Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles and impersonated the parent of a 10-year-old child who had just visited the emergency department for depression. They asked for an appointment using a standardized script that varied only according to how they intended to pay for the services: BCBS, Medicaid, or self-pay.Calls were made during normal business hours between July 6 and August 4, 2022, and voicemails were left when the office did not pick up the call. If the researchers did not receive a return call with the requested information, th...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: appointment Blue Cross-Blue Shield child child psychiatrist depression Psychiatric Services in Advance secret shopper survey wait time wrong numbers Source Type: research