National Trends in Outpatient Mental Health Service Use Among Adults Between 2008 and 2015

What is it about?

Research has shown an increase in outpatient mental health visits over the past few decades, but types of providers patients are going to for mental health reasons remains unknown. The authors used nationally representative data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey-Household Component to examine trends in outpatient mental health visits between 2008-2011 and 2012-2015. They found while the percentage of visits with primary care physicians and specialty mental health providers remained relatively stable, there was a significant increase in the percentage of visits with other providers including nurse practitioners (NPs), suggesting the need for more research examining the role of NPs in providing metal health care.

Featured Image