Old policies hamper treatment

Kaiser Health News reported on some challenges that primary care providers are facing when they treat mental health issues. Apparently, in the 1980s, many insurers issued policies to separate mental health treatment from treatment of more traditional medical concerns by separating out the network of providers who could be reimbursed for mental health treatment. Since then, it appears the separation has grown. The original reasoning might have made sense: steering patients towards specialists, who might have been able to offer higher quality at lower costs. However, the insurers' rationale might have ignored patients' preferences. Apparently, "primary care physicians handled nearly 40% of all visits for depression or anxiety and prescribed half of all antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications." Given how frequently primary care physicians treat mental health issues, it seems that separating the provider networks would pose significant burdens on patients.

The article discusses how insurers will deny mental health claims from primary care physicians, which resulted in some billing their treatment under different procedure codes. Overall, the current policy of separating provider networks (even though many patients consult primary care physicians about mental health issues) seems short-sighted: insurers might be able to save on some claims in the short-run, but the policy likely drives up costs for providers who must then track more administrative rules or drives up costs in general as patients need to see more providers resulting in more visits.