Data Source

"CMS, National Provider Identification: The NPI Registry enables you to search for a provider's National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) information. All information produced by the NPI Registry is provided in accordance with the NPPES Data Dissemination Notice. Information in the NPI Registry is updated daily. You may run simple queries to retrieve this read-only data. For example, users may search for a provider by the NPI or legal business name."

Measure Methods

• "Mental Health Providers is a ratio: Mental Health Providers is the ratio of the population to mental health providers. The ratio represents the number of individuals one mental health provider served in a county if the population was equally distributed across providers. For example, if a county has a population of 50,000 and has 20 mental health providers, their ratio would be: 2,500:1. The value on the right side of the ratio is always 1 or 0; 1 indicates that there is at least one mental health provider in the county, and zero indicates there are no registered mental health providers in the county."

• "The method for calculating Mental Health Providers has changed: In 2015, marriage and family therapists and mental health providers that treat alcohol and other drug abuse were added to this measure."

• "Mental Health Providers has been corrected: We discovered an error in our method for identifying mental health providers in 2014-2016: we included organizations and individual providers in each county. The correct estimates of the ratios for Mental Health Providers are now available on our website for 2015 and 2016 and in the downloadable data files. Unfortunately, the raw data file used to calculate Mental Health Providers for the 2014 Rankings is unavailable now, so corrections cannot be provided."

• "Some data are suppressed: A missing value is reported for counties with populations greater than 1,000 and 0 mental health providers."

• "Measure limitations: These data come from the National Provider Identification data file, which has some limitations. Providers who transmit electronic health records are required to obtain an identification number, but very small providers may not obtain a number. While providers can deactivate their identification number, some mental health professionals included in this list may no longer be practicing or accepting new patients. This may result in overestimating active mental health professionals in some communities. It is also true that mental health providers may be registered with an address in one county while practicing in another county."

• "The left side of the ratio: The left side of the ratio is the total county population."

• "The right side of the ratio: The right side of the ratio is the number of mental health providers in a county. Mental health providers are defined as psychiatrists, psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, counselors, marriage and family therapists, mental health providers that treat alcohol and other drug abuse, and advanced practice nurses specializing in mental health care."

• "Can This Measure Be Used to Track Progress?: This measure should not be used to track progress. There are concerns that many providers that are no longer practicing are not deactivated, resulting in an overestimation of the number of practicing providers. The methodology for this measure has changed. To better understand this estimate, confirming this data with additional data sources at the local level is particularly valuable." 

Source: Mental Health Providers | County Health Rankings & Roadmaps

References