Patient and Clinic Characteristics of a Prescribing Psychology Practice in New Mexico.

Abstract

Little is known about patients treated by prescribing psychologists. We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study using electronic health record data of patients (N = 4,540) from a large prescribing psychology clinic in Las Cruces, New Mexico (2017-2023). Data on patient demographics (e.g., age at first visit, county of residence), clinical characteristics (e.g., psychiatric diagnoses, comorbidities), and county-level geographic factors (e.g., rurality) were collected. Less than half (48.9%) were privately insured, and patients had myriad psychiatric and comorbid conditions. Patients were from 75.8% of the counties in the state, nearly all rural counties (95.4%) with high social deprivation index scores (M = 92.1; SD = 10.8). Combination treatment with both medication and psychotherapy was most common (62.2%) and visits exclusively for medication management were rare (4.7%). Prescribing psychologists appear to treat rural, underserved patients with a diversity of psychiatric conditions using both medication and therapy.