Delivery of Exposure and Response Prevention Among Veterans with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

Veterans with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) often face barriers to receiving evidence-based treatments such as exposure and response prevention (ERP). Through retrospective review of electronic medical records, this study examined the rates of ERP delivery in a national sample of 554 veterans newly diagnosed with OCD in the Veterans Health Administration between 2016 and 2017. Results indicated that only 4% of veterans (n = 22) received any ERP treatment; and, of those, 16 veterans received "true ERP." Veterans who received any ERP were younger than those who did not. ERP was primarily delivered by psychologists in urban facilities along the East and West coasts of the USA. The findings from this study emphasize the need to train more providers to effectively deliver ERP in addition to providing telehealth services to increase access to care for veterans in rural areas.