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- Page navigation anchor for RE: Difficulty Obtaining Behavioral Health Services for Children: A National Survey of Multiphysician PracticesRE: Difficulty Obtaining Behavioral Health Services for Children: A National Survey of Multiphysician Practices
Congratulations to the authors for utilizing the 2017-2018 National Survey of Healthcare Organizations and Systems (NSHOS) dataset to explore multiphysician practice difficulty in obtaining pediatric behavioral health services, including medication advice, evidence-based psychotherapy and family-based therapy.
In reviewing your study, a few questions crossed my mind. Your team found that multiphysician practices also face struggles obtaining behavioral health needs for adults. Do you think that multiphysician practices face more struggles in obtaining behavioral health needs for pediatric versus adult patients? More so, in your study, “pediatric” refers to patients aged 0-21 years. As such, this is an expansive age range. I am curious as to whether specific age ranges within the pediatric population experience more difficulties in obtaining behavioral health services? Do you feel that additional investigations are warranted to compare difficulty in obtaining behavioral health services across pediatric subgroup populations?
Increasing behavioral health awareness and treatments has received increased attention over the course of the past decade. Considering this study was drawn from2017-2018 survey data, is it possible that access to behavioral health services, for pediatric patients, has shifted over the past five years? Will NSHOS be repeated to measure assess to access to behavioral health services longitudinally?
As practicing clinicians, do you...
Show MoreCompeting Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for RE: Difficulty Obtaining Behavioral Health Services for Children: A National Survey of Multiphysician PracticesRE: Difficulty Obtaining Behavioral Health Services for Children: A National Survey of Multiphysician Practices
Thank you for objectively quantifying difficulties faced in obtainment of behavioral health services for children experiencing depression, anxiety, other mental illness and/or substance abuse disorders. Through exploration of National Survey of Healthcare Organizations and Systems (NSHOS) data, the authors were able to review accessibility of behavioral health services across multiphysician practices as a function of ownership structure and practice attributes. As an undergraduate who actively volunteers for the warmline on my large midwestern campus, I recognize challenges often faced by students in securing mental health therapist and/or counselor consultation due to high clinical demands. However, I was quite taken aback that over 85% of multipractice practices, in your study, found it very challenging to acquire behavioral healthcare services for their pediatric patients. Furthermore, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in further challenges resulting in significant delays in securing pediatric behavioral health specialist care.1 As such, behavioral health specialists are needed more than ever for the care of children.
In reviewing your study, several thoughts and questions crossed my mind. Your team employed analyses using 2017-2018 NSHOS data. I found it noteworthy that you compared your findings to the 2004-2005 Community Tracking Study (CTS) Physician Survey.2 Importantly, nearly 15 years had passed between administration of the 2004-2005 CTS...
Show MoreCompeting Interests: None declared.