Though there has been an increase in the psychiatrist workforce, the number of them billing Medicare Part B has decreased, indicating a concerning inequitable access to psychiatric care.
The study published by JAMA Network Open, which used data from 2014 to 2022, found that although there was a 12.1 percent increase in the number of active psychiatrists nationwide, the number of them who bill Medicare Part B declined by 16.8 percent nationwide.
The conflicting findings suggest a concerning decrease in access to psychiatrist-led care for older adults and individuals with disabilities, noted the research team.
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“Although one might assume that an increasing psychiatric workforce begets increased access to psychiatric care, our findings suggest that this may not the case for those relying on traditional Medicare to cover costs rather than cash pay or through enrollment in a privately managed Medicare Advantage plan,” the researchers wrote. “It may be that the US is entering a period of “paucity in the land of plenty,” where an increased number of psychiatrists does not translate to equitable availability of psychiatrist-led care.”
Additional findings include:
- Traditional Medicare Part B enrollment declined by 10.6 percent, with the greatest drop in the Midwest (15.2 percent) followed by the Northeast (12.0 percent) and the South (13.3 percent).
- The states with the highest numbers of traditional Medicare Part B-serving psychiatrists per enrollees were Rhode Island, the District of Columbia, and Connecticut. The states with the lowest numbers were Wyoming, Mississippi, and Montana.
- Despite the psychiatric workforce growing across states, the percentage of active psychiatrists billing Medicare Part B decreased in every state and federal district.