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Toward the financial integration of public mental health services

  • Financing Mental Health Care
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Abstract

The public treatment of seriously mental ill patients continues to be frustrated by the lack of administrative and financial integration of state and community mental health services. Several states have initiated attempts to improve the costeffectiveness of public mental health services through mechanisms that create financial incentives fostering community-based alternatives to psychiatric hospitalization. Examples of such mechanisms include capitation financing systems, performance contracts, regional mental health authorities, utilization review, and bed-targets. This paper reviews evidence supporting the need for and success of these efforts, and also addresses their limitations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Virginia School of Medicine, USA

    Glenn R. Yank M.D. (Professor of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry)

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Mississippi, USA

    David S. Hargrove Ph.D. (Professor and Chairperson)

  3. Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work, USA

    King E. Davis Ph.D. (Professor of Social Work)

  4. Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services, USA

    King E. Davis Ph.D. (Professor of Social Work)

Authors
  1. Glenn R. Yank M.D.
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  2. David S. Hargrove Ph.D.
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  3. King E. Davis Ph.D.
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Yank, G.R., Hargrove, D.S. & Davis, K.E. Toward the financial integration of public mental health services. Community Ment Health J 28, 97–109 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00754277

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