- Nearly 60% of clinicians who have opted out of Medicare are behavioral health specialists.
- 1,031 psychologists opted out in 2024, the most ever in a single year, a 34% increase over 2023.
- Mental Health Counselors (MHC) and Marriage and Family Therapists (MFT) became the third and fourth most numerous of the specialties to have opted out – in the first year enrollment became available for those specialties.
The addition of MHCs and MFTs as independent clinicians in Medicare increased total behavioral health specialists by almost 22%. The impact this increase will have on access to care remains to be seen, as data related to quantity and types of services provided, and number of beneficiaries treated, become available.