Trends In Outpatient Mental Health Services Use Before And During The COVID-19 Pandemic.

ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted mental health services delivery across the US, but the extent and implications of these disruptions are unclear. This retrospective observational analysis used the claims clearinghouse Office Ally to compare outpatient mental health services use from March to December 2016-18 against use during the same period in 2020. We identified encounters for people ages twelve and older with primary diagnosis codes corresponding to mental health conditions and categorized encounters as in-person or telehealth, using Current Procedural Terminology and place-of-service codes. In-person mental health encounters were reduced by half in the early months of the pandemic, with rapid recovery of service delivery attributable to telehealth uptake (accounting for 47.9 percent of

SUBMITTER: Zhu JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9056059 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature