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Data presented at APA’s 2003 Annual Meeting in San Francisco concludes that
trends in the psychiatry workforce are leading to access problems. (Source of
data: APA’s Office of Research and the American Psychiatric Institute for
Research and Education (APIRE))
In the current managed care climate, a psychiatrist can earn approximately 57
percent more money from three medication management visits than from one
outpatient psychotherapy visit with medication evaluation, according to Joshua
Wilk, Ph.D, a research scientist in APA’s Office of Research.
APIRE’s 2002 National Survey of Psychiatric Practice vs. 1988-9
Professional Activities Study
41 patients per week vs. 35 patients per week
34 minutes with patient vs. 55 minutes with patient
15% work in hospital (primary setting) vs. 34% work in hospital (primary
setting)
Administrative work claims 20% time vs. Administrative work claims 12% time
There were 40,867 clinically active (practicing at least 35 hours a week)
psychiatrists in 2000 – a 41 percent increase since 1982, but during the last
two years of the study, from 1998 to 2000, the increase was less than one
percent.
More than 60 percent of APA members completed their training more than 21 years
ago. Only 32 percent of psychiatrists are under 45, a 14 percent reduction from
the 46 percent under the age of 45 ten years ago.
The managed care movement has negatively impacted the psychiatry workforce and
patients’ ability to access psychiatric care. Only 54 percent of
psychiatrists are accepting new patients who carry managed care related
insurance, 68 percent will accept patients covered by non-managed care
insurance, and 79 percent will accept self-pay patients.
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