Psychiatrists, psychologists spending <a href="https://healthylife7.com/more-than-600000-people-in-uk-unable-to-work-due-to-obesity-study-finds/" title="More than 600,000 people in UK unable to work due to obesity, study finds”>more than other healthcare providers to lobby policymakers
Dave Pearson|July 18, 2026|Health Exec|Policy & Regulations
Payments to lobbyists from healthcare providers fell 13% over a 10-year period ending in 2024. Yet lobbyist spending by one specialty—mental healthcare—rose by nearly 30%. What explains the against-the-current cash flow?
Researchers at the University of Oklahoma peer behind the numbers in a study published this month in JAMA Psychiatry
For the project, lead study author Anmoldeep Singh, senior author Nirmal Choradia, MD, MPH, and colleagues tapped the nonprofit OpenSecrets.org, which gathers lobbying data through the U.S. Senate’s Office of Public Records
Searching the database by various keywords associated with mental healthcare—psychiatry, psychology, depression, anxiety and the like—the team adjusted for inflation to 2024 dollars and analyzed the results in early 2026.
Their prime findings: Total lobbying expenditures by all healthcare professionals decreased an even 13.0%, from $113,419,825 in 2014 to $100,387,274 in 2024.
Meanwhile, over that same period, spending on healthcare lobbying for psychiatry and psychology increased 29.3%, from $5.9 million to $7.6 million.
The investigators further found that mental health professionals per se consistently spent more each year than other job categories in the field.
Specifically, psychiatry and psychology professionals increased their lobbying spend 12.5%, from $3 million in 2014 to $3.3 million in 2024.
This outpaced lobbying spending in total dollars for mental healthcare matters by health services and health maintenance organizations (HMOs), hospitals and nursing homes, and human rights organizations
Not statistically significant but still broadly illuminating
In their discussion section, the researchers note that the increases in lobbying spending by psychiatry and psychology stakeholders did not reach statistical significance
This held for spending by the American Psychological Association, the largest spender within its bracket, as the APA’s lobbying layouts “fluctuated but did not attain a statistically significant trend.”
However, these increases “did deofessionals, as well as the previously reported decreasing trends among medical and surgical physician groups.”
Also noteworthy by the researchers’ lights: Spending on lobbyists by hospitals and nursing homes increased significantly, rising 24.5% over the study period—from $1.01 million in 2014 to $1.26 million in 2024.
The authors surmise this finding may trace to increases in hospitalizations related to mental health concerns, “especially among adolescents, which could also contribute to the increase seen for psychiatry and psychology health professionals.”
Mental healthcare in the policy periscope
Singh and co-authors believe their study is the first to examine lobbying expenditures in the mental health field.
Among their study’s limitations, the researchers name the lack of “inherent constraints for the current structure of reporting lobbying data, as no standardization exists” for the specificity of lobbying reports.
“As healthcare costs continue to rise,” the team concludes, “additional work is needed to better understand relationships between lobbying efforts and health policy, particularly focused on mental health issues.”
The study is posted in full for free here
Dave Pearson
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations
