Who Provides Outpatient Clinical Care for Adults With ADHD? Analysis of Healthcare Claims by Types of Providers Among Private Insurance and Medicaid Enrollees, 2021.

Objective: To characterize provider types delivering outpatient care overall and through telehealth to U.S. adults with ADHD.
Method: Using employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) and Medicaid claims, we identified enrollees aged 18 to 64 years who received outpatient care for ADHD in 2021. Billing provider codes were used to tabulate the percentage of enrollees receiving ADHD care from 10 provider types overall and through telehealth.
Results: Family practice physicians, psychiatrists, and nurse practitioners/psychiatric nurses were the most common providers for adults with ESI, although the distribution of provider types varied across states. Lower percentages of adults with Medicaid received ADHD care from physicians. Approximately half of adults receiving outpatient ADHD care received ADHD care by telehealth.
Conclusion: Results may inform the development of clinical guidelines for adult ADHD and identify audiences for guideline dissemination and education planning.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Dr. Surman has received, in his lifetime, consulting fees from Eisai, Kayuna, Ironshore, Mcneil, Neurocentria, NLS Pharma, Nutricia, Otsuka, Pfizer, Adlon/Purdue, Rhodes, Shire, Somaxon, Sunovion, Supernus, Takeda, and Teva. He has also received payments for lectures for Alcobra, Arbor, McNeil, Janssen, Janssen-Ortho, Novartis, Shire, and Reed/MGH Academy (funded by multiple companies) as well as GME CME (funded by multiple companies). Royalties have been given to Dr. Surman from Berkeley/Penguin for Fast Minds: How to Thrive If You Have ADHD (or Think You Might) and from Humana/Springer for ADHD in Adults: A Practical Guide to Evaluation and Management. Additionally, Dr. Surman has conducted clinical research at Massachusetts General Hospital supported by Abbot, Cephalon, Hilda and Preston Davis Foundation, Eli Lilly, Magceutics/Neurocentria, Jazz/Axsome, Johnson & Johnson/McNeil, Lundbeck, Merck, Nordic Naturals, Pharmopatheca, Shire, and Takeda.All other authors have no personal or financial conflicts of interest to disclose.