Primary mental health care visits in self-reported data versus provincial administrative records

Background Survey data and provincial administrative health data are the major sources of population estimates of mental health care visits to General Practitioners (GPs). Previous research has suggested that self-reported estimates of the number of mental health-related visits per person to health professionals may exceed estimates obtained from physician reimbursement records. Data and methods Self-reported data from the 2002 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS): Mental Health and Well-being and administrative records from the Medical Services Plan of British Columbia were linked. The analytic sample consisted of 145 CCHS respondents who had at least one mental health visit to a GP in the past 12 months according to both data sources. High Reporters (self-reported visits exceeded number in administrative data), Low Reporters (self-reported visits were less than number in administrative data), and Exact Matches were analyzed in two ways. The first analysis used diagnostic codes to identify mental health-related visits in the administrative data. For the second analysis, all GP visits in the administrative data were counted as "possibly" mental health-related. Differences were described based on the median number of visits. Results When diagnostic codes were used to identify mental-health-related visitis in the administrative data, High Reporters (49%) substantially exceeded Low Reporters (24%). The remaining 27% were Exact Matches. Based on a broader definition of a mental health visit, 51% were Exact Matches. High reporting was common among people with mental disorders. Interpretation Self-reported data and administrative data provide different estimates of the number of mental health visits per person to GPs. The discrepancy can be large.