People with private health insurance who try to book a psychiatrist or psychologist from their plan's online directory may struggle to get an appointment, according to a large secret-shopper study published Oct. 16 in JAMA Health Forum. Among calls that reached a clear outcome, only 23.6% ended with an appointment with the listed clinician.
Researchers from The Ohio State University and Stanford University placed 5,822 calls between October 2025 and March 2026 to psychiatrists and psychologists listed in the online directories of the largest commercial insurer in Delaware, Montana, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia. In Virginia, the team also included CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield because Anthem does not offer coverage across the entire state. Counting every first call attempt, only 12.4% produced an appointment with any clinician.
