BEND, Ore. — Mental health parity laws passed in 2008 require insurance companies to treat mental illness the same way they treat medical conditions. But a dwindling supply of psychiatrists — both nationwide and in Oregon —-is leaving many patients with complex mental health issues without timely access to psychiatric care.
Last month in the journal Health Affairs, researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College and Columbia University published an analysis of the current supply of psychiatrists in the U.S. They found that from 2003 to 2013, there was a 0.2 percent decline in the number of practicing psychiatrists in the U.S. In contrast, there was a 14 percent increase in the total number of doctors, a 10 percent increase in primary care physicians and a 36 percent increase in the numbers of neurologists.
Factoring in population growth, the supply of psychiatrists dropped by 10 percent.
“There’s a particular concern about access to psychiatrists, particularly in rural areas and for people who live in poorer areas,” said Dr. Harold Pincus, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and a co-author of the study. “There really does seem to be an access crisis in some parts of the country.”
The Health Resources and Services Administration designates any area with less than one psychiatrist per 30,000 people a mental health professional shortage area. In Oregon, that includes nearly the entire state outside of Portland and Eugene.
“We’re hurting there in terms of the availability of psychiatric time,” said Dr. Magnus Lakovics, a psychiatrist working under a contract with St. Charles Bend. “There’s no question about it.”
Central Oregon has one office-based psychiatric practice with five psychiatrists, then a handful of solo practitioners scattered throughout the region. Deschutes County Mental Health employs several psychiatrists, but they serve primarily patients on the Oregon Health Plan. And the hospital employs and contracts with several more.
“Family doctors take care of the bulk of mental health issues,” Lakovics said. “Usually we get referred patients who are not doing as well in family practice.”
One quarter of U.S. adults report a mental health issue at any given time, and about half will incur a mental illness at some point in their lives. Most of those conditions are treated by primary care physicians, who can prescribe an increasing number of psychiatric medications to treat basic behavioral health conditions.
