Physician and behavioral health provider diagnostic agreement in a general hospital setting.

Objective: Behavioral health providers are often employed in inpatient settings. However, it is unclear if there is mental health diagnosis agreement between referring physicians and behavioral health providers. The purpose of this study is to assess for referring physician and behavioral health provider mental health diagnostic agreement in a general hospital setting.

Method: An analysis of 60 consecutive inpatient referrals to a behavioral health provider in a general hospital setting was conducted. The initial referral diagnosis from referring internal medicine physicians was compared with the diagnosis made by the behavioral health provider.

Results: Kappa statistics indicated good diagnostic agreement for substance abuse (.79), anxiety disorders (.82), adjustment disorders (.88), relational conflict (.88), and "other" (.74). There was less agreement for depressive disorders (.55).

Conclusions: Diagnostic agreement was good overall, suggesting that referrals to inpatient behavioral health providers are often appropriate. Results indicated that depression was underdiagnosed by physicians in the study sample. This is problematic given that depression can be successfully treated through the use of medication and psychotherapy.