Racial-Ethnic Differences in Service Use Patterns Among Young, Commercially Insured Individuals With Recent-Onset Psychosis

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.

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.

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- non-Hispanic white patients (72.3%+/- 0.6%; p

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.