Mental Health Service Utilization Rates Among Commercially Insured Adults in the US During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic

JAMA Health Forum: Mental Health Service Utilization Rates Among Commercially Insured Adults in the US During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study found that the weekly rate of in-person mental health service utilization decreased by more than 50 percent after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic but concurrent increases in telehealth led to a slight increase in total utilization for anxiety disorders and stability in total volume of service for other disorders. For the three highest-prevalence diagnostic categories, researchers also found that service utilization continued to increase throughout 2020, primarily in the telehealth context. The findings suggest that the pandemic disrupted in-person mental health care but expansion of telehealth enabled care for an increasing number of patients.