Trends in office-based psychiatric practice

Objective: The authors examine trends in the composition and duration of vi sits to psychiatrists in office-based psychiatric practice. Method: An anal ysis was performed of physician-reported data from the 1985 and 1995 Nation al Ambulatory Medical care Surveys focusing on visits to physicians special izing in psychiatry. Secular changes in visit characteristics were assessed , and mean visit durations were determined for selected sociodemographic an d clinical groups. Results: In the decade between 1985 and 1995, visits in office-based psychiatry became shorter, less often included psychotherapy, and more often included a medication prescription. The proportion of visits that were 10 minutes or less in length increased. A shortening in visit du ration was most evident for younger patients, privately insured patients, a nd patients who were not prescribed a psychotropic medication. in the 1995 survey, 6.8% of the psychiatric visits included patient contact with anothe r health care professional. Conclusions: Changing financial arrangements an d new pharmacologic treatments may have contributed to these changes in pra ctice style.