The HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) released a study on the availability of care for older adults in outpatient behavioral health facilities across the U.S.

• It examined the proportion of facilities that offer outpatient behavioral health services that accept older adults, accept Medicare, and/or offer programs tailored for older adults.

The findings:

• Most facilities that provided outpatient behavioral health services accepted older adults.
• But only about one-third of mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment facilities offered programs specifically tailored for this population.
• SUD treatment facilities were the least likely to accept Medicare, with less than half doing so, compared to two-thirds of mental health facilities and facilities that provided both SUD and mental health services.
• Factors driving older adults’ access to outpatient behavioral health services included workforce shortages, transportation barriers, fragmented systems, federal and state policies, cross-sector collaboration, provider comfort with SUD pharmacotherapy, telehealth readiness, service integration or co-location, appointment design, and stigma.

Read more: Few substance use clinics accept Medicare