Doctors in Massachusetts only inquire about patients’ mental and emotional health around half the time, according to a new statewide survey.
The survey, conducted by the nonprofit organization Massachusetts Health Quality Partners (MHQP), comes in the wake of new recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) calling for every adult to be screened for depression by their primary care physicians.
“Depression and substance abuse are often overlooked in primary care visits,” Barbra Rabson, MHQP president, told the Boston Globe. “Physicians are not as comfortable screening for it. And patients can be really uncomfortable talking about it.’’
The survey was given to nearly 44,000 adult patients in Massachusetts, who indicated whether they were asked about depression, substance abuse or other mental health issues by their primary care physician in the past year.
The results showed that doctors brought up the issue of mental health only about half the time, with Massachusetts physicians scoring 56 out of a possible 100 points.
Patients scored 61 out of 100 possible points when indicating whether they were asked if they felt “sad, empty or depressed’’ at an appointment in the past year. Additionally, a score of 44 was given to patients who discussed personal problems, substance abuse or a mental or emotional illness with their doctors, while a score of 63 was assessed to patients who discussed at least one stressful life situation with a physician.
The survey scores might be higher if not for several barriers to consistent depression screening by doctors, including a lack of mental health specialists in primary practices and the increasing burden on doctors to screen patients for a litany of illnesses, which detracts from treating known health conditions.
“Obviously we are not where we want to be,” added Rabson, echoing the USPSTF’s call for increased efforts from doctors, primary practices and the healthcare industry as a whole to improve depression screening and mental health care for patients.
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