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Abstract

Objective:

This study aimed to examine population-level disruption in psychotherapy before and after the rapid shift to virtual mental health care induced by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

Methods:

This retrospective study used electronic health record and insurance claims data from three U.S. health systems. The sample included 110,089 patients with mental health conditions who were members of the health systems’ affiliated health plans and attended at least two psychotherapy visits from June 14, 2019, through December 15, 2020. Data were subdivided into two 9-month periods (before vs. after COVID-19 onset, defined in this study as March 14, 2020). Psychotherapy visits were measured via health records and categorized as in person or virtual. Disruption was defined as a gap of >45 days between visits.

Results:

Visits in the preonset period were almost exclusively in person (97%), whereas over half of visits in the postonset period were virtual (52%). Approximately 35% of psychotherapy visits were followed by a disruption in the preonset period, compared with 18% in the postonset period. Disruption continued to be less common (adjusted OR=0.45) during the postonset period after adjustment for visit, mental health, and sociodemographic factors. The magnitude of the difference in disruption between periods was homogeneous across sociodemographic characteristics but heterogeneous across psychiatric diagnoses.

Conclusions:

This study found fewer population-level disruptions in psychotherapy receipt after rapid transition to virtual mental health care following COVID-19 onset. These data support the continued availability of virtual psychotherapy.

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Supplementary Material

File (appi.ps.20230181.ds001.pdf)

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Psychiatric Services
Go to Psychiatric Services
Psychiatric Services
Pages: 108 - 114
PubMed: 37817579

History

Received: 12 April 2023
Revision received: 22 May 2023
Accepted: 14 July 2023
Published online: 11 October 2023
Published in print: February 01, 2024

Keywords

  1. Psychotherapy
  2. Mental health systems/hospitals
  3. Virtual care

Authors

Affiliations

Brian K. Ahmedani, Ph.D. [email protected]
Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research (Ahmedani, Yeh, Miller-Matero), Behavioral Health Services (Ahmedani, Miller-Matero, Akinyemi, Fallone, Patel, Beebani), and Public Health Sciences (Levin), Henry Ford Health, Detroit; Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Seattle (Penfold, Simon); HealthPartners Institute, Minneapolis (Hooker, Knowlton, Rossom); Center for Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Georgia, and Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta (Owen-Smith); Authority Health, Detroit (Eke-Usim).
Hsueh-Han Yeh, Ph.D.
Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research (Ahmedani, Yeh, Miller-Matero), Behavioral Health Services (Ahmedani, Miller-Matero, Akinyemi, Fallone, Patel, Beebani), and Public Health Sciences (Levin), Henry Ford Health, Detroit; Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Seattle (Penfold, Simon); HealthPartners Institute, Minneapolis (Hooker, Knowlton, Rossom); Center for Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Georgia, and Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta (Owen-Smith); Authority Health, Detroit (Eke-Usim).
Robert B. Penfold, Ph.D.
Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research (Ahmedani, Yeh, Miller-Matero), Behavioral Health Services (Ahmedani, Miller-Matero, Akinyemi, Fallone, Patel, Beebani), and Public Health Sciences (Levin), Henry Ford Health, Detroit; Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Seattle (Penfold, Simon); HealthPartners Institute, Minneapolis (Hooker, Knowlton, Rossom); Center for Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Georgia, and Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta (Owen-Smith); Authority Health, Detroit (Eke-Usim).
Gregory E. Simon, M.D., M.P.H.
Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research (Ahmedani, Yeh, Miller-Matero), Behavioral Health Services (Ahmedani, Miller-Matero, Akinyemi, Fallone, Patel, Beebani), and Public Health Sciences (Levin), Henry Ford Health, Detroit; Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Seattle (Penfold, Simon); HealthPartners Institute, Minneapolis (Hooker, Knowlton, Rossom); Center for Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Georgia, and Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta (Owen-Smith); Authority Health, Detroit (Eke-Usim).
Lisa R. Miller-Matero, Ph.D.
Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research (Ahmedani, Yeh, Miller-Matero), Behavioral Health Services (Ahmedani, Miller-Matero, Akinyemi, Fallone, Patel, Beebani), and Public Health Sciences (Levin), Henry Ford Health, Detroit; Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Seattle (Penfold, Simon); HealthPartners Institute, Minneapolis (Hooker, Knowlton, Rossom); Center for Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Georgia, and Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta (Owen-Smith); Authority Health, Detroit (Eke-Usim).
Esther Akinyemi, M.D.
Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research (Ahmedani, Yeh, Miller-Matero), Behavioral Health Services (Ahmedani, Miller-Matero, Akinyemi, Fallone, Patel, Beebani), and Public Health Sciences (Levin), Henry Ford Health, Detroit; Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Seattle (Penfold, Simon); HealthPartners Institute, Minneapolis (Hooker, Knowlton, Rossom); Center for Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Georgia, and Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta (Owen-Smith); Authority Health, Detroit (Eke-Usim).
Marisa Fallone, D.O.
Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research (Ahmedani, Yeh, Miller-Matero), Behavioral Health Services (Ahmedani, Miller-Matero, Akinyemi, Fallone, Patel, Beebani), and Public Health Sciences (Levin), Henry Ford Health, Detroit; Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Seattle (Penfold, Simon); HealthPartners Institute, Minneapolis (Hooker, Knowlton, Rossom); Center for Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Georgia, and Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta (Owen-Smith); Authority Health, Detroit (Eke-Usim).
Shivali Patel, M.D.
Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research (Ahmedani, Yeh, Miller-Matero), Behavioral Health Services (Ahmedani, Miller-Matero, Akinyemi, Fallone, Patel, Beebani), and Public Health Sciences (Levin), Henry Ford Health, Detroit; Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Seattle (Penfold, Simon); HealthPartners Institute, Minneapolis (Hooker, Knowlton, Rossom); Center for Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Georgia, and Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta (Owen-Smith); Authority Health, Detroit (Eke-Usim).
Ganj Beebani, M.D.
Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research (Ahmedani, Yeh, Miller-Matero), Behavioral Health Services (Ahmedani, Miller-Matero, Akinyemi, Fallone, Patel, Beebani), and Public Health Sciences (Levin), Henry Ford Health, Detroit; Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Seattle (Penfold, Simon); HealthPartners Institute, Minneapolis (Hooker, Knowlton, Rossom); Center for Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Georgia, and Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta (Owen-Smith); Authority Health, Detroit (Eke-Usim).
Stephanie A. Hooker, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research (Ahmedani, Yeh, Miller-Matero), Behavioral Health Services (Ahmedani, Miller-Matero, Akinyemi, Fallone, Patel, Beebani), and Public Health Sciences (Levin), Henry Ford Health, Detroit; Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Seattle (Penfold, Simon); HealthPartners Institute, Minneapolis (Hooker, Knowlton, Rossom); Center for Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Georgia, and Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta (Owen-Smith); Authority Health, Detroit (Eke-Usim).
Ashli Owen-Smith, Ph.D., S.M.
Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research (Ahmedani, Yeh, Miller-Matero), Behavioral Health Services (Ahmedani, Miller-Matero, Akinyemi, Fallone, Patel, Beebani), and Public Health Sciences (Levin), Henry Ford Health, Detroit; Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Seattle (Penfold, Simon); HealthPartners Institute, Minneapolis (Hooker, Knowlton, Rossom); Center for Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Georgia, and Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta (Owen-Smith); Authority Health, Detroit (Eke-Usim).
Gregory Knowlton, M.S.
Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research (Ahmedani, Yeh, Miller-Matero), Behavioral Health Services (Ahmedani, Miller-Matero, Akinyemi, Fallone, Patel, Beebani), and Public Health Sciences (Levin), Henry Ford Health, Detroit; Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Seattle (Penfold, Simon); HealthPartners Institute, Minneapolis (Hooker, Knowlton, Rossom); Center for Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Georgia, and Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta (Owen-Smith); Authority Health, Detroit (Eke-Usim).
Albert Levin, Ph.D.
Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research (Ahmedani, Yeh, Miller-Matero), Behavioral Health Services (Ahmedani, Miller-Matero, Akinyemi, Fallone, Patel, Beebani), and Public Health Sciences (Levin), Henry Ford Health, Detroit; Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Seattle (Penfold, Simon); HealthPartners Institute, Minneapolis (Hooker, Knowlton, Rossom); Center for Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Georgia, and Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta (Owen-Smith); Authority Health, Detroit (Eke-Usim).
Angela Eke-Usim, M.D., M.P.H.
Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research (Ahmedani, Yeh, Miller-Matero), Behavioral Health Services (Ahmedani, Miller-Matero, Akinyemi, Fallone, Patel, Beebani), and Public Health Sciences (Levin), Henry Ford Health, Detroit; Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Seattle (Penfold, Simon); HealthPartners Institute, Minneapolis (Hooker, Knowlton, Rossom); Center for Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Georgia, and Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta (Owen-Smith); Authority Health, Detroit (Eke-Usim).
Rebecca C. Rossom, M.D., M.S.
Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research (Ahmedani, Yeh, Miller-Matero), Behavioral Health Services (Ahmedani, Miller-Matero, Akinyemi, Fallone, Patel, Beebani), and Public Health Sciences (Levin), Henry Ford Health, Detroit; Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Seattle (Penfold, Simon); HealthPartners Institute, Minneapolis (Hooker, Knowlton, Rossom); Center for Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Georgia, and Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta (Owen-Smith); Authority Health, Detroit (Eke-Usim).

Notes

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

Competing Interests

Dr. Penfold reports receiving research funding to his institution from Sage Therapeutics and the Lundbeck Foundation. The other authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.

Funding Information

This project was supported by NIMH (award U19MH092201).The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

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