
%0 Journal Article
%T Racial-ethnic differences in service use patterns among young, commercially insured individuals with recent-onset psychosis
%J Psychiatric services
%D 2020
%A van der Ven, Els
%A Susser, Ezra
%A Dixon, Lisa B.
%A Olfson, Mark
%A Gilmer, Todd P.
%V ePub
%N ePub
%P ePub-ePub
%X OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate racial-ethnic differences in use of mental health services and antipsychotic medication in the year following the recent onset of a psychotic disorder and to examine the role of household income as a proxy for socioeconomic status. <br><br>METHODS: Deidentified administrative claims data from the OptumLabs Data Warehouse were used to identify 8,021 commercially insured individuals ages 14 through 30 with a recent-onset psychotic disorder (January 1, 2011, through December 31, 2015). The authors compared mental health service use among African-American (11.5%), Hispanic (11.0%), and non-Hispanic white (77.4%) individuals during the year following an index diagnosis and adjusted these analyses for household income. <br><br>RESULTS: The probability of any use of outpatient mental health services was lower among African-American (67.4%±1.4%) and Hispanic individuals (66.5%±1.5%) compared with non-Hispanic white patients (72.3%±0.6%; p<0.05 for each comparison). Among those who used services, African-American and Hispanic individuals had fewer mean outpatient mental health visits per year compared with non-Hispanic whites (9.7±0.7 and 10.2±0.7 versus 14.3±0.5, respectively, p<0.001 for each comparison). These racial-ethnic differences in service use remained after adjustment for household income. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Among young, commercially insured individuals using outpatient services following an index diagnosis of psychotic disorder, African Americans and Hispanics received less intensive outpatient mental health care than their non-Hispanic white counterparts. Amid the upsurge of early intervention programs, special attention should be paid to increasing access to mental health services for racial-ethnic minority groups.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
%G en
%I American Psychiatric Association
%@ 1075-2730
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201900301