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Access to Mental Health Care Varies by Geography

JAMA Psychiatry; ePub 2017 Apr 5; Cummings, et al

Mental health treatment facilities are more likely to be located in poorer communities, whereas office-based practices of mental health professionals are more likely to be located in higher-income communities, according to a recent study. Measures of the availability of specialty mental health treatment resources were derived using national data for 31,836 zip code tabulation areas from 2013 to 2015. Researchers found:

  • Of total zip code tabulation areas, more than four-tenths (42.5%) of communities in the highest income quartile (mean income, $81,207) had any community-based mental health treatment resource vs 23.1% of communities in the lowest income quartile (mean income, $30,534).
  • When examining the distribution of mental health professionals, 25.3% of the communities in the highest income quartile had a mental health specialist physician practice vs 8.0% of those in the lowest income.
  • In contrast, outpatient mental health treatment facilities were less likely to be located in the communities in the highest vs lowest income quartiles (12.9% vs 16.5%).

Citation:

Cummings JR, Allen L, Clennen J, Druss BG. Geographic access to specialty mental health care across high- and low-income US communities. [Published online ahead of print April 5, 2017]. JAMA Psychiatry. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2017.0303.