OIG Report on Availability of Surveyed Behavioral Health Providers to Treat New Patients Enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid

OIG surveyed behavioral health providers who actively served Medicare and Medicaid patients to assess whether they could make new patient appointments for enrollees in 2023. Some findings of the review include: 1) forty-five percent of surveyed providers reported that they were not available to treat new patients enrolled in traditional Medicare, Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid managed care, and 2) among the providers who were available to treat new patients enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid, about a quarter reported wait times of more than 30 days for an appointment. This report illustrates that enrollee access to needed behavioral health care is hampered by the inability of active providers to treat new patients.