For many men, a diagnosis finally puts a name to what they have been feeling, but the real challenge often begins right after.
A diagnosis can feel like relief. The exhaustion, the irritability, the days that felt heavier than they should have, finally have an explanation. Yet for many men, that clarity does not lead to professional care. About 20% of men experience a mental illness annually,* and even with a diagnosis confirmed, only 4 in 10 receive professional care each year.**
From diagnosis to treatment, what explains the shocking drop-off? Stepping out of your comfort zone to ask for help can be hard enough. Maybe it’s cost. Maybe it’s the appointment wait. Maybe it’s a provider list that hasn’t been updated. Even worse, sometimes a diagnosis arrives without a next step, not because no one cares, but because lapsed credentials, missed license expirations or a billing issue pulled a provider off the roster before anyone caught it.
What closes that gap has little to do with the person and everything to do with the systems that should be supporting them. “As a clinician, I know that a diagnosis only matters if it leads to care,” said Elena Freydin, DNP, APRN, ANP-BC, MBA, chief compliance officer at Lynn Community Health Center. “And as a compliance leader, I also know that reliable systems, clear accountability, and appropriate oversight are what help turn that diagnosis into timely treatment and keep patients from being lost along the way.”
Somewhere between a diagnosis and getting treatment, care depends on things patients never see: the credentialing, compliance, and oversight that decide whether a provider is ready to see them. That is the behind-the-scenes work Ntracts helps behavioral health organizations do, closing that gap so a diagnosis leads to treatment, not another dead end.
*SAMHSA, National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2024.**1199SEIU Benefit Funds, “Men’s Mental Health,” 2024 (data from SAMHSA and CDC)
Next article
