{ "id": "R43255", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "R43255", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 580505, "date": "2018-04-20", "retrieved": "2018-05-01T14:17:44.282137", "title": "The Mental Health Workforce: A Primer", "summary": "Congress has held hearings and some Members have introduced legislation addressing the interrelated topics of the quality of mental health care, access to mental health care, and the cost of mental health care. The mental health workforce is a key component of each of these topics. The quality of mental health care depends partially on the skills of the people providing the care. Access to mental health care relies on, among other things, the number of appropriately skilled providers available to provide care. The cost of mental health care depends in part on the wages of the people providing care. Thus an understanding of the mental health workforce may be helpful in crafting policy and conducting oversight. This report aims to provide such an understanding as a foundation for further discussion of mental health policy. \nNo consensus exists on which provider types make up the mental health workforce. This report focuses on the five provider types identified by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as mental health providers: clinical social workers, clinical psychologists, marriage and family therapists, psychiatrists, and advanced practice psychiatric nurses. The HRSA definition of the mental health workforce is limited to highly trained (e.g., graduate degree) professionals; however, this workforce may be defined more broadly elsewhere. For example, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) definition of the mental health workforce includes mental health counselors and paraprofessionals (e.g., case managers). \nAn understanding of typical licensure requirements and scopes of practice may help policymakers determine how to focus policy initiatives aimed at increasing the quality of the mental health workforce. Most of the regulation of the mental health workforce occurs at the state level because states are responsible for licensing providers and defining their scope of practice. Although state licensure requirements vary widely across provider types, the scopes of practice converge into provider types that generally can prescribe medication (psychiatrists and advanced practice psychiatric nurses) and provider types that generally cannot prescribe medication (clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, and marriage and family therapists). The mental health provider types can all provide psychosocial interventions (e.g., talk therapy). Administration and interpretation of psychological tests is generally the province of clinical psychologists.\nAccess to mental health care depends in part on the number of mental health providers overall and the number of specific types of providers. Clinical social workers are generally the most plentiful mental health provider type, followed by clinical psychologists, who substantially outnumber marriage and family therapists. While less abundant than the three aforementioned provider types, psychiatrists outnumber advanced practice psychiatric nurses. Policymakers may influence the size of the mental health workforce through a number of health workforce training programs.\nPolicymakers may assess the relative wages of different provider types, particularly when addressing policy areas where the federal government employs mental health providers or pays for their services through government programs such as Medicare. Psychiatrists are typically the highest earners, followed by advanced practice psychiatric nurses and clinical psychologists. Marriage and family therapists earn more than clinical social workers. The relative costs of employing different provider types may be a consideration for federal agencies that employ mental health providers.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R43255", "sha1": "f32b268fed2654c18e2bf95e3358d2f276c0f5d8", "filename": "files/20180420_R43255_f32b268fed2654c18e2bf95e3358d2f276c0f5d8.html", "images": {} }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R43255", "sha1": "d95d39e05916d0e8155a1bb4d7b7bdf90053e222", "filename": "files/20180420_R43255_d95d39e05916d0e8155a1bb4d7b7bdf90053e222.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4788, "name": "Health Care Delivery" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4932, "name": "Public Health Services & Special Populations" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 440535, "date": "2015-04-16", "retrieved": "2016-04-06T19:12:53.828164", "title": "The Mental Health Workforce: A Primer", "summary": "Congress has held hearings and introduced legislation addressing the interrelated topics of the quality of mental health care, access to mental health care, and the cost of mental health care. The mental health workforce is a key component of each of these topics. The quality of mental health care depends partially on the skills of the people providing the care. Access to mental health care relies on, among other things, the number of appropriately skilled providers available to provide care. The cost of mental health care depends in part on the wages of the people providing care. Thus an understanding of the mental health workforce may be helpful in crafting policy and conducting oversight. This report aims to provide such an understanding as a foundation for further discussion of mental health policy. \nNo consensus exists on which provider types make up the mental health workforce. This report focuses on the five provider types identified by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as \u201ccore mental health professionals\u201d: clinical social workers, clinical psychologists, marriage and family therapists, psychiatrists, and advanced practice psychiatric nurses. The HRSA definition of the mental health workforce is limited to highly trained (e.g., graduate degree) professionals; however, this workforce may be defined more broadly elsewhere. \nAn understanding of typical licensure requirements and scopes of practice may help policymakers determine how to focus policy initiatives aimed at increasing the quality of the mental health workforce. Most of the regulation of the mental health workforce occurs at the state level because states are responsible for licensing providers and defining their scope of practice. Although state licensure requirements vary widely across provider types, the scopes of practice converge into provider types that generally can prescribe medication (psychiatrists and advanced practice psychiatric nurses) and provider types that generally cannot prescribe medication (clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, and marriage and family therapists). The core mental health provider types can all provide psychosocial interventions (e.g., talk therapy). Administration and interpretation of psychological tests is generally the province of clinical psychologists.\nAccess to mental health care depends in part on the number of mental health providers overall and the number of specific types of providers. Clinical social workers are generally the most plentiful core mental health provider type, followed by clinical psychologists, who substantially outnumber marriage and family therapists. While less abundant than the three aforementioned provider types, psychiatrists outnumber advanced practice psychiatric nurses. Policymakers may influence the size of the mental health workforce through a number of health workforce training programs.\nPolicymakers may assess the relative wages of different provider types, particularly when addressing policy areas where the federal government employs mental health providers. Psychiatrists are typically the highest earners, followed by advanced practice psychiatric nurses and clinical psychologists. Marriage and family therapists earn more than clinical social workers. The relative costs of employing different provider types may be a consideration for federal agencies that employ mental health providers.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R43255", "sha1": "c1c617031c3eb576faf7ff0f72add743a512daa1", "filename": "files/20150416_R43255_c1c617031c3eb576faf7ff0f72add743a512daa1.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R43255", "sha1": "399ee700d8fb2c36d78db17352763a84876cc1a0", "filename": "files/20150416_R43255_399ee700d8fb2c36d78db17352763a84876cc1a0.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4070, "name": "Health Care Delivery" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc807104/", "id": "R43255_2014Jan07", "date": "2014-01-07", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "The Mental Health Workforce: A Primer", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20140107_R43255_a1c649660ddc7e98469880f185d17dd3114dcd6f.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20140107_R43255_a1c649660ddc7e98469880f185d17dd3114dcd6f.html" } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc227948/", "id": "R43255_2013Oct18", "date": "2013-10-18", "retrieved": "2013-11-05T18:07:05", "title": "The Mental Health Workforce: A Primer", "summary": "This report begins with a working definition of the mental health workforce and a brief discussion of alternative definitions. It then describes three dimensions of the mental health workforce that may influence quality of care, access to care, and costs of care: (1) licensure requirements and scope of practice for each provider type in the mental health workforce, (2) estimated numbers of each provider type in the mental health workforce, and (3) average annual wages for each provider type in the mental health workforce. The report then briefly discusses how these dimensions of the mental health workforce might inform certain policy discussions.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20131018_R43255_9bf7b843297df20e1f1a97afe11d081a42bff9cf.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20131018_R43255_9bf7b843297df20e1f1a97afe11d081a42bff9cf.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Mental health", "name": "Mental health" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Psychiatric personnel", "name": "Psychiatric personnel" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Mental health services", "name": "Mental health services" } ] } ], "topics": [ "Health Policy" ] }