Data on Mental Health Diseases and Conditions Reported by Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) (Phantom Networks: Discrepancies Between Reported and Realized Mental Health Care Access In Oregon Medicaid): Mental Health Diseases and Conditions

2022 AUG 19 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A new study on Mental Health Diseases and Conditions is now available. According to news reporting from Portland, Oregon, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Understanding the extent to which beneficiaries can ‘realize’ access to reported provider networks is imperative in mental health care, where there are significant unmet needs. We compared listings of providers in network directories against provider networks empirically constructed from administrative claims among members who were ages sixty-four and younger and enrolled in Oregon’s Medicaid managed care organizations between January 1 and December 31, 2018. ‘In-network’ providers were those with any medical claims filed for at least five unique Medicaid beneficiaries enrolled in a given health plan.”

Financial support for this research came from NIH National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), “They included primary care providers, specialty mental health prescribers, and nonprescribing mental health clinicians. Overall, 58.2 percent of network directory listings were ‘phantom’ providers who did not see Medicaid patients, including 67.4 percent of mental health prescribers, 59.0 percent of mental health nonprescribers, and 54.0 percent of primary care providers.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Significant discrepancies between the providers listed in directories and those whom enrollees can access suggest that provider network monitoring and enforcement may fall short if based on directory information.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Phantom Networks: Discrepancies Between Reported and Realized Mental Health Care Access In Oregon Medicaid. Health Affairs, 2022;41(7):1013-1022. Health Affairs can be contacted at: Project Hope, 7500 Old Georgetown Rd, Ste 600, Bethesda, MD 20814-6133, USA.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Jane M. Zhu, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), Portland, OR 97201, United States. Additional authors for this research include Christina J. Charlesworth, K. John McConnell and Daniel Polsky.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2022.00052. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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