Abstract
With the changing economic situation, mental health administrators are faced with the task of directing scarce resources to priority populations. Most statistical concepts, however, were developed in a time when agencies were primarily concerned with issues of needs assessment and outreach, and they may be less useful in a time of retrenchment, when agencies must prioritize services in spite of an often overwhelming demand. This paper offers additional indicators, which are simple and readily available and which may be useful in answering today's administrative questions.
Proposed indicators are: (1)Density, the proportion of target patients among all patients who use a certain service, (2)Service Utilization Rate, the number of target patients that utilize a certain service as a proportion of all target patients, and (3) two measures ofService Intensity. The measures of service intensity included mean frequency of service and the mean charge amount per type of service per standard unit of time as an indicator of the intensity of resource utilization, and, indirectly, of the intensity of care.
Examples of the importance of using multiple indicators in community mental health center administrative decision-making are provided. Implications for public policy are discussed.
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Dr. Verhulst is Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
Dr. Mundt is Executive Director, Harborview Community Mental Health Center.
Partial funding for this project was provided by the Washington State Division of Mental Health.
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Verhulst, J., Mundt, J. Mental health administration and service utilization patterns. Administration in Mental Health 14, 28–43 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00822037
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00822037