Hello. I'm looking forward to talking to you today about something that is a little different from my typical videos, although it follows a previous discussion of how we are creating our new department at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin. Today I want to talk about how the role and job of psychiatrists is going to have to evolve in our country to meet needs.
As most of you are aware, we are currently not meeting society's needs and requests for good mental health care. The demand is truly overwhelming, rapidly overwhelming virtually every office and health system that employs psychiatrists. Almost immediately, a psychiatrist's practice fills. The way they are set up, mostly because the demand is so high, many private practitioners don't join any insurance panels. Consequently, although the wealthy can typically get care, insured middle-class people cannot. Of course, if you are poor, you have limited resources and are often plugged into the public system, which is typically undersourced.
A big, central part of this is psychiatrists. Not surprisingly, it turns out that psychiatrists are the most expensive part of the care pathway, and they are also the least available. It is highly unlikely that either of these things is going to change anytime soon.
COMMENTARY
A New Year, A New Model of Mental Care
Stephen M. Strakowski, MD
DisclosuresJanuary 17, 2017
Hello. I'm looking forward to talking to you today about something that is a little different from my typical videos, although it follows a previous discussion of how we are creating our new department at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin. Today I want to talk about how the role and job of psychiatrists is going to have to evolve in our country to meet needs.
As most of you are aware, we are currently not meeting society's needs and requests for good mental health care. The demand is truly overwhelming, rapidly overwhelming virtually every office and health system that employs psychiatrists. Almost immediately, a psychiatrist's practice fills. The way they are set up, mostly because the demand is so high, many private practitioners don't join any insurance panels. Consequently, although the wealthy can typically get care, insured middle-class people cannot. Of course, if you are poor, you have limited resources and are often plugged into the public system, which is typically undersourced.
A big, central part of this is psychiatrists. Not surprisingly, it turns out that psychiatrists are the most expensive part of the care pathway, and they are also the least available. It is highly unlikely that either of these things is going to change anytime soon.
Medscape Psychiatry © 2017 WebMD, LLC
Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.
Cite this: A New Year, A New Model of Mental Care - Medscape - Jan 17, 2017.
Tables
Authors and Disclosures
Authors and Disclosures
Author
Stephen M. Strakowski, MD
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, Psychology, and Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine; Senior Vice President, Strategy and Transformation, University of Cincinnati Health, Cincinnati, Ohio
Disclosure: Stephen M. Strakowski, MD, has disclosed the following relevant financial relationships:
Serve(d) as a director, officer, partner, employee, advisor, consultant, or trustee for: Roche; Procter & Gamble; Novartis; Sunovion
Received income in an amount equal to or greater than $250 from: Roche; Procter & Gamble; Novartis; Sunovion; Oxford University Press