Table 3.

Reasons for Voluntary Outpatient Out-of-Network Use

Primary Reason*§	General Medical Contacts Unweighted n (Weighted%)	Mental Health Contacts Unweighted n (Weighted %)
Total	494 (100%)	161 (100.0%)
Issues related to provider quality
Recommendation of another doctor, family, or friends	72 (12.9%)	39 (26.1%)
Continuity with previously known provider	140 (21.9%)	35 (23.7%)
Physician skill	85 (13.7%)	38 (19.3%)
Second opinion	6 (0.8%)	1 (0.2%)
Issues related to provider network size and composition
Could schedule appointment sooner	5 (1.0%)	3 (2.4%)
Convenient location	13 (3.7%)	3 (1.9%)
Service or specialty not covered by insurance	11 (1.4%)	2 (1.9%)
Illness that needed care right away	27 (9.0%)	3 (0.7%)
No in-network physician available in area	14 (4.5%)	2 (0.6%)
Other	39 (12.0%)	20 (11.4%)
Refused	1 (0.3%)	—
Missing	81 (18.9%)	15 (11.8%)

Unit of analysis is contacts between the respondents and out-of-network providers. A respondent could report contacts with up to 2 different outpatient out-of-network providers.

Percentages may not total 100 because of rounding.

^*Participants were asked to indicate 1 main reason among all reasons selected for why they used an out-of-network physician.

^§P < 0.05.