Becker's Behavioral Health reported: Mental healthcare, including care for substance use disorders, accounted for 7% of total U.S. healthcare expenditures from 2021 to 2023, Medscape reported Oct. 7. Annualized mental health spending totaled $174 billion, compared with $2.5 trillion in overall healthcare expenditures captured by the survey.

Researchers analyzed data from the 2021 to 2023 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which represents the civilian noninstitutionalized U.S. population. The analysis included 67,532 person-year observations, including 15,407 involving outpatient mental healthcare. The study, led by Carlos Blanco, MD, PhD, of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Bethesda, Md., was published online Sept. 30 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Here are five things to know:

1. Mean annual mental healthcare spending was $523 per person overall and $2,473 per person among those with any treated mental health disorder.

2. Mood disorders represented the largest category of aggregate mental health spending at $74 billion. Anxiety and fear-related disorders followed at $69 billion.

3. Substance use disorders had the highest mean per-person expenditures at $9,569, followed by schizophrenia at $9,370 and bipolar disorders at $7,382.

4. Ambulatory services represented the largest spending category at $107 billion. Medication accounted for $36 billion, home healthcare for $20 billion and inpatient treatment for $12 billion.

5. Mean per-person expenditures were higher among individuals who were female compared with male and nonmarried compared with married. Spending was lower among individuals aged 65 years or older compared with those younger than 18, Asian and Hispanic individuals compared with non-Hispanic white individuals and uninsured individuals compared with insured individuals.

###