Demand Increasing; Doctors Decreasing

What do you call it when the demand for a service over a ten-year time frame increases dramatically, while at the same time those who are able to provide the service decreases?

According to a recent study in Health Affairs, the amount of psychiatrists in America went from 37,986 in 2003, to 37,899 ten years later per 100,000 residents in hospital referral regions. At the same time, the demand for these services, by conservative estimates, actually increased a significant amount.

This coincides with the vast amount of Americans who are battling with a mental health condition, not receiving any treatment at all. According to a variety of research pieces, an estimated one out of five Americans are battling each year totaling about 60 million in need of care. Although less than half of these people receive care, it amounts to over 35 million Americans needing care, but not receiving it.

Technology is profoundly impacting almost every aspect of our lives from how we order a taxi, order food, and use our bank’s services. Perhaps there is an opportunity to extend our limited, highly trained resources of psychiatrists? These are people who have spent countless hours in training, preparation, and practicum work in order to provide highly specialized care. How do we best care for many others who may need care, but are not currently receiving it?

Often times we call a company and are connected to the automated message to help find the desired information. Of course by habit we would much rather speak directly to a live person to take care of the problem, however this model is extremely cost prohibitive. Service lines of organizations had to innovate to find a model that would provide the basic information of simply the address or hours of a company without overwhelming in costs. When there are more challenging needs, there is still often the opportunity to connect to a live individual only after the initial, low-cost resource has been exhausted.

Could the same model be used for behavioral health? Could technology proactively reach out to reluctant care seekers on digital channels, engage people through a live, fun, and interactive community that sees clinical benefit? Could this same technology be analogous to the phone line system when perhaps the issue or problem is not resolved by the computer system, but there is a chance to connect to a trained doctor either through a secure skype/telehealth connection or through a referral wizard that helps to coordinate a meeting?

With mental health conditions now the costliest health condition in America, it seems an ideal time to try something new. Let’s strive to work hard and increase access to needed care, while at the same time reducing overall health spending.