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Published Online: 25 May 2021

Access to Care for Veterans With Serious Mental Illness During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Objective:

The authors examined access to care among persons with serious mental illness during the pandemic and disparities in use of virtual care among this population versus among individuals with other psychiatric diagnoses.

Methods:

Data from the Veterans Health Administration were used to examine whether the number of visits for serious mental illness differed for January–September 2019 versus the same period in 2020. Mixed-effects regression analyses tested whether the post–COVID-19 rate of growth in virtual care differed for people with serious mental illnesses versus those with other diagnoses.

Results:

Fewer visits for serious mental illnesses occurred during the initial weeks of the pandemic but not subsequently. The rate of growth in video visits during 2020 was slower for serious mental illnesses than for other psychiatric diagnoses.

Conclusions:

Several months after the pandemic’s start, the total number of visits for serious mental illnesses was similar to 2019; however, adoption of video care was slower than for other psychiatric diagnoses.

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Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Psychiatric Services
Go to Psychiatric Services
Psychiatric Services
Pages: 1324 - 1327
PubMed: 34030456

History

Received: 9 December 2020
Accepted: 10 February 2021
Published online: 25 May 2021
Published in print: November 01, 2021

Keywords

  1. Coronavirus/COVID-19
  2. Research/service delivery

Authors

Details

Pushpa V. Raja, M.D., M.S.H.P.M.
Department of Mental Health, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles (Raja, Gabrielian); Office of Mental Health, VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego (Doran)
Sonya Gabrielian, M.D., M.P.H.
Department of Mental Health, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles (Raja, Gabrielian); Office of Mental Health, VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego (Doran)
Neal Doran, Ph.D. [email protected]
Department of Mental Health, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles (Raja, Gabrielian); Office of Mental Health, VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego (Doran)

Notes

Send correspondence to Dr. Doran ([email protected]).

Competing Interests

The authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.

Funding Information

This study was supported in part by U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Services Research and Development Career Development Award (15-074 to Dr. Gabrielian). The views expressed in this article are those of the authors alone and do not represent the views of the VA or the U.S. government.

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