Secret Shopper Survey Of Child Psychiatrists Finds 11% Appointment Rate

A recent "secret shopper" survey found that calls to 322 child psychiatrists listed as in-network with a large private insurer in three major U.S. cities led to appointments for children just 11% of the time during COVID-19. Moreover, the average wait time for a visit to these child psychiatrists was more than a month: the average time until the first available in-person appointment was 44 days for all cities, and the average time until the first available virtual appointment was 37 days.

For the survey, the researchers called 322 psychiatrists listed as in-network by Blue . . .