This analysis suggests that DTCA may lead to antidepressant treatment in 15-fold as many non-depressed people as depressed people. However, the costs of treating non-depressed people may be vastly outweighed by the much larger benefit accruing to treated depressed individuals. The cost-benefit ratio can be improved through better targeting of advertisements and higher quality treatment of depression.
The Citywide Guide ("Guide") is an online and bound publication in New York City that lists low-or no-cost resource and service providers-organized by 21 different service categories-available at no cost to New York City residents and service providers by the Women Creating Change (formerly Women's City Club of New York). Women Creating Change (WCC) aims to empower underrepresented women with the information and tools they need to become civically engaged change-makers. The primary purpose of the evaluation was to determine the value of the Citywide Guide to New York City residents living in or near poverty, and to determine how web-based information resources can be better marketed and utilized by the less advantaged populations in large urban settings. This mixed methods evaluation of the Citywide Guide includes information collected from endusers of the Guide including results of an online survey with 57 total respondents and of a focus group discussion of seven participants that was held at WCC headquarters. Forty-seven percent and 38% of the survey respondents reported using the online and hardcopy versions of the Guide, respectively, and "Housing and Homelessness" was the category explored most frequently by respondents when using the Guide. We conclude that the Citywide Guide is a valued resource for ABOUT THE AUTHOR The evaluation reported here was conducted by researchers at the Center for Long-Term Care
Objective
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act prevents payors from imposing more stringent limitations on mental health and substance disorder benefits than medical and surgical benefits. In this study, we assess a New York City insurer’s parity compliance based on the accuracy and validity of network-provided information and a consider legal framework to address this.
Methods
A “secret shopper” analysis was performed, in which researchers attempted to contact the 192 psychiatrist providers listed in the 2019 online directory of United Healthcare psychiatry providers.
Results
Only 3.1% of calls resulted in researchers booking an appointment. 50.5% of calls resulted in “no response”, 18.75% connected to psychiatrists not accepting new patients, and 8.8% of listed providers stated they were not in the United Healthcare network.
Conclusions
Erroneous directory information exacerbates the issue of access to mental health treatment. Enforcement policy should hold insurers accountable for the reliability of their online directories.
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