Unlike other service types, the number of mental health services visits increased during the pandemic

 Table 2 provides more detail on the change in visit volume by service type. Across most services, the number of visits declined between 2019 to 2020. The greatest declines can be seen for those services most difficult to adapt to virtual care, i.e., dental and vision care, at 34 percent and 28 percent, respectively. In contrast to other service types, and likely due to increasing mental health needs during the pandemic[14] as well as the ability of telehealth services to increase access to mental health care,[15] visits for mental health services increased by 15 percent from 2019 to 2020. Mental health services were also the only service type for which more visits were provided virtually than in-clinic in 2020 (Table 2). Mental health visits accounted for more than a quarter (26 percent) of virtual visits and 12 percent of all visits in 2020 (Figure 7).

Table 2

Figure 7

Clinic Visits

Virtual Visits

Total Visits

In the face of research indicating that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased substance use disorders and drug overdose deaths,[16] visits for substance use disorder (SUD) services fell by more than 164,000 visits, or nine percent, from 2019 to 2020 (Table 2). This finding mirrors national trends as there was a 13 percent decline in SUD services for non-elderly adult Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) beneficiaries from March to October 2020 compared to the same time period in 2019.[17]

Between 2019 and 2020, the number of SUD patients served by community health centers declined by ten percent, from approximately 326,000 to 295,000. although the number of patients receiving medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder grew by 27 percent, from approximately 143,000 patients in 2019 to 182,000 patients in 2020. Nearly all (97 percent) community health centers offered mental health counseling and treatment services and 77 percent offered SUD services in 2020.[18]