Challenges for insured patients in accessing behavioral health care

Abstract

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandates that health insurance plans include sufficient access to behavioral health providers, but lacks specific guidelines to define sufficient access. Using a secret shopper methodology, we called behavioral health providers in the Denver metropolitan area networked with 3 large insurance companies. We found that, depending on insurance company and level of training, 9.8% to 59% of providers could offer a new patient appointment, with psychiatry appointments being particularly difficult to schedule. These findings are consistent with similar studies conducted in other regions, suggesting that access to outpatient behavioral health care is limited despite existing ACA regulations.