Provider Type and Depression Treatment Adequacy

We investigate the effect of initial provider (primary care physician, psychiatrist, or non-physician mental health specialist) on the adequacy of subsequent treatment for persons with depression. Our data are from MarketScan®, a medical and pharmacy insurance claims database, which we use to estimate models of the likelihood of treatment for depression and the likelihood that any treatment received is adequate. Patients initially seeing psychiatrists are most likely to receive adequate treatment. Provider type has a statistically and medically significant effect on whether any treatment occurs but a smaller effect on treatment adequacy among treated patients. The results show the importance of provider type in treatment patterns, but the effects on patient outcomes are yet to be determined definitively