Utilization and Spending on Mental Health Services Among Children and Youths With Commercial Insurance.

This cross-sectional study examines telehealth, in-person, and overall pediatric mental health service utilization and spending rates from January 2019 through August 2022 among a US pediatric population with commercial insurance.

Racism, early psychosis, and institutional contact: A qualitative study of Indigenous experiences.

BACKGROUND: There is evidence of Indigenous and ethnic minority inequities in the incidence and outcomes of early psychosis. Racism has been implicated as having an important role. AIM: To use Indigenous experiences to develop a more detailed understanding of how racism operates to impact early psychosis outcomes. METHODS: Critical Race Theory informed the methodology used. Twenty-three Indigenous participants participated in four family focus group interviews and thirteen individual interviews, comprising of 9 Maori youth with early psychosis, 10 family members and 4 Maori mental health professionals. An analysis of the data was undertaken using deductive structural coding to identify descriptions of racism, followed by inductive descriptive and pattern coding. RESULTS: Participant experiences revealed how racism operates as a socio-cultural phenomenon that interacts with institutional policy and culture across systems pertaining to social responsiveness, risk discourse, and mental health service structures. This is described across three major themes: 1) selective responses based on racial stereotypes, 2) race related risk assessment bias and 3) institutional racism in the mental health workforce. The impacts of racism were reported as inaction in the face of social need, increased use of coercive practices and an under resourced Indigenous mental health workforce. CONCLUSION: The study illustrated the inter-related nature of interpersonal, institutional and structural racism with examples of interpersonal racism in the form of negative stereotypes interacting with organizational, socio-cultural and political priorities. These findings indicate that organizational cultures may differentially impact Indigenous and minority people and that social responsiveness, risk discourse and the distribution of workforce expenditure are important targets for anti-racism efforts.

Income-related disparities in Medicare advantage behavioral health care quality.

OBJECTIVE: To inform efforts to improve equity in the quality of behavioral health care by examining income-related differences in performance on HEDIS behavioral health measures in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SETTING: Reporting Year 2019 MA HEDIS data were obtained and analyzed. STUDY DESIGN: Logistic regression models were used to estimate differences in performance related to enrollee income, adjusting for sex, age, and race-and-ethnicity. Low-income enrollees were identified by Dual Eligibility for Medicare and Medicaid or receipt of the Low-Income Subsidy (DE/LIS). Models without and with random effects for plans were used to estimate overall and within-plan differences in measure performance. Heterogeneity by race-and-ethnicity in the associations of low-income with behavioral health quality were examined using models with interaction terms. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS: Data were included for all MA contracts in the 50 states and the District of Columbia that collect HEDIS data. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: For six of the eight measures, enrollees with DE/LIS coverage were more likely to have behavioral health conditions that qualify for HEDIS measures than higher income enrollees. In mixed-effects logistic regression models, DE/LIS coverage was associated with statistically significantly worse overall performance on five measures, with four large (>5 percentage point) differences (-7.5 to -11.1 percentage points) related to follow-up after hospitalization and avoidance of drug-disease interactions. Where the differences were large, they were primarily within-plan rather than between-plan. Interactions between DE/LIS and race-and-ethnicity were statistically significant (p < 0.05) for all measures; income-based quality gaps were larger for White enrollees than for Black or Hispanic enrollees. CONCLUSIONS: Low income is associated with lower performance on behavioral health HEDIS measures in MA, but these associations differ across racial-and-ethnic groups. Improving care integration and addressing barriers to care for low-income enrollees may improve equity across income levels in behavioral health care.

Establishing a comprehensive list of mental health-related services and resource use items in Austria: A national-level, cross-sectoral country report for the PECUNIA project.

BACKGROUND: A comprehensive, comparable assessment of the economic disease burden and the value of relevant care forms a major challenge in the case of mental diseases. This study aimed to inform the development of a resource use measurement (RUM) instrument and harmonized reference unit costs valid for multi-sectoral and multi-national cost assessments for mental health diseases as part of the European PECUNIA project. METHODS: An iterative, multi-methods approach was applied. Systematic literature reviews appended with national grey literature searches in six European countries were conducted to generate preliminary, literature-based, international, mental health-related service and resource use lists for all investigated sectors in 2018. As part of a multi-national expert survey, these lists were reviewed by 18 Austrian sector-specific experts regarding the clarity, relevance, comprehensiveness and availability in the Austrian context. RESULTS: Out of 295 items included in the preliminary, international, sector-specific lists (health and social care-201 items, criminal justice-35 items, education-39 items; patient, family and informal care-20 items), a total of 261 items and descriptions (88%) were considered clear by all experts. 42 items (14%) were considered not existing in Austria, and 111 items (38%) were prioritized regarding their relevance in the national context. Thirteen additional items (4%) were suggested to be added to accommodate for Austria-specific features of the individual sectors. Major typological difficulties based on item names were observed. CONCLUSIONS: The identified country-specific variations and general typological bias and their potential contributions to service and resource use cost variations across countries and sectors call for further systematic investigation. Next, PECUNIA will develop internationally harmonized and comparable definitions of the listed items and their units of analysis based on a new conceptual multi-sectoral costing framework. The developed lists will require consolidation and further prioritization for the development of a patient-reported RUM instrument and consequent reference unit cost valuation.

Concealment of financial aid? The Volta para Casa (Back Home) Program on documents and events. / Ocultamento do auxílio? Programa de Volta Para Casa em documentos e eventos.

A fundamental government initiative to change the living conditions of deinstitutionalized Brazilian people, the De Volta para Casa (Back Home) Program is formed by some elements, including the psychosocial rehabilitation financial aid. Thirty-four state and academic documents from ordinances to papers were gathered to identify which elements of the Program permeate the records and debates about it throughout the Brazilian Psychiatric Reform, converging with the studies of Juarez Pereira Furtado and Ligia Maria Vieira-da-Silva about the dynamics of scientific and bureaucratic fields, such as mental health. Furthermore, we ethnographed five events that gathered institutionalized people and other agents from this field. We noticed the remarkable presence of the Therapeutic Residential Services (SRT) as an element of the referred Program both in the records and the scientific debates, while the mentioned financial aid was highlighted mainly in the government records.

O Programa de Volta para Casa, iniciativa governamental fundamental para modificar as condições de vida de egressos de internação psiquiátrica no Brasil, é formado por alguns componentes, entre eles o auxílio-reabilitação psicossocial. Com o objetivo de identificar quais componentes do referido Programa estão presentes nos registros e debates sobre ele ao longo do processo de Reforma Psiquiátrica Brasileira, 34 documentos foram reunidos, de portarias a artigos, em convergência com os estudos de Juarez Pereira Furtado e Ligia Maria Vieira-da-Silva sobre a dinâmica de campos ao mesmo tempo científicos e burocráticos, como o da saúde mental. Além disso, cinco eventos que reuniam egressos de internação psiquiátrica e outros agentes desse campo foram etnografados. Notamos a presença marcante do Serviço Residencial Terapêutico como componente do referido Programa nos registros e debates científicos, enquanto o mencionado auxílio foi destacado principalmente nos registros governamentais.

Ocultamento do auxílio? Programa de Volta Para Casa em documentos e eventos / Concealment of financial aid? The Volta para Casa (Back Home) Program on documents and events

Resumo O Programa de Volta para Casa, iniciativa governamental fundamental para modificar as condições de vida de egressos de internação psiquiátrica no Brasil, é formado por alguns componentes, entre eles o auxílio-reabilitação psicossocial. Com o objetivo de identificar quais componentes do referido Programa estão presentes nos registros e debates sobre ele ao longo do processo de Reforma Psiquiátrica Brasileira, 34 documentos foram reunidos, de portarias a artigos, em convergência com os estudos de Juarez Pereira Furtado e Ligia Maria Vieira-da-Silva sobre a dinâmica de campos ao mesmo tempo científicos e burocráticos, como o da saúde mental. Além disso, cinco eventos que reuniam egressos de internação psiquiátrica e outros agentes desse campo foram etnografados. Notamos a presença marcante do Serviço Residencial Terapêutico como componente do referido Programa nos registros e debates científicos, enquanto o mencionado auxílio foi destacado principalmente nos registros governamentais.

Abstract A fundamental government initiative to change the living conditions of deinstitutionalized Brazilian people, the De Volta para Casa (Back Home) Program is formed by some elements, including the psychosocial rehabilitation financial aid. Thirty-four state and academic documents from ordinances to papers were gathered to identify which elements of the Program permeate the records and debates about it throughout the Brazilian Psychiatric Reform, converging with the studies of Juarez Pereira Furtado and Ligia Maria Vieira-da-Silva about the dynamics of scientific and bureaucratic fields, such as mental health. Furthermore, we ethnographed five events that gathered institutionalized people and other agents from this field. We noticed the remarkable presence of the Therapeutic Residential Services (SRT) as an element of the referred Program both in the records and the scientific debates, while the mentioned financial aid was highlighted mainly in the government records.

Efficacy and cost-effectiveness of task-shared care for people with severe mental disorders in Ethiopia (TaSCS): a single-blind, randomised, controlled, phase 3 non-inferiority trial.

BACKGROUND: There have been no trials of task-shared care (TSC) using WHO's mental health Gap Action Programme for people with severe mental disorders (psychosis or affective disorder) in low-income or middle-income countries. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of TSC compared with enhanced specialist mental health care in rural Ethiopia. METHODS: In this single-blind, phase 3, randomised, controlled, non-inferiority trial, participants had a confirmed diagnosis of a severe mental disorder, recruited from either the community or a local outpatient psychiatric clinic. The intervention was TSC, delivered by supervised, non-physician primary health care workers trained in the mental health Gap Action Programme and working with community health workers. The active comparison group was outpatient psychiatric nurse care augmented with community lay workers (PSY). Our primary endpoint was whether TSC would be non-inferior to PSY at 12 months for the primary outcome of clinical symptom severity using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, Expanded version (BPRS-E; non-inferiority margin of 6 points). Randomisation was stratified by health facility using random permuted blocks. Independent clinicians allocated groups using sealed envelopes with concealment and outcome assessors and investigators were masked. We analysed the primary outcome in the modified intention-to-treat group and safety in the per-protocol group. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02308956. FINDINGS: We recruited participants between March 13, 2015 and May 21, 2016. We randomly assigned 329 participants (111 female and 218 male) who were aged 25-72 years and were predominantly of Gurage (198 [60%]), Silte (58 [18%]), and Mareko (53 [16%]) ethnicity. Five participants were found to be ineligible after randomisation, giving a modified intention-to-treat sample of 324. Of these, 12-month assessments were completed in 155 (98%) of 158 in the TSC group and in 158 (95%) of 166 in the PSY group. For the primary outcome, there was no evidence of inferiority of TSC compared with PSY. The mean BPRS-E score was 27·7 (SD 4·7) for TSC and 27·8 (SD 4·6) for PSY, with an adjusted mean difference of 0·06 (90% CI -0·80 to 0·89). Per-protocol analyses (n=291) were similar. There were 47 serious adverse events (18 in the TSC group, 29 in the PSY group), affecting 28 participants. These included 17 episodes of perpetrated violence and seven episodes of violent victimisation leading to injury, ten suicide attempts, six hospital admissions for physical health conditions, four psychiatric admissions, and three deaths (one in the TSC group, two in the PSY group). The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for TSC indicated lower cost of -US$299·82 (95% CI -454·95 to -144·69) per unit increase in BPRS-E scores from a health care sector perspective at 12 months. INTERPRETATION: WHO's mental health Gap Action Programme for people with severe mental disorders is as cost-effective as existing specialist models of care and can be implemented effectively and safely by supervised non-specialists in resource-poor settings. FUNDING: US National Institute of Mental Health.

An Economic Analysis of the Cost of a Regional Crisis Stabilization Unit.

Crisis stabilization units (CSUs) are one type of "alternative to arrest" program used for jail diversion. We aimed to estimate the economic costs of starting and operating a CSU in Arkansas. We estimated the economic costs of the Pulaski County Regional CSU (PCRCSU) located in Little Rock, Arkansas, from September 1, 2018, to August 31, 2019. We collected data through interviews about start-up and ongoing management costs. We calculated total annual economic cost, average admission cost, and average 24 hr admission cost. There were 536 admissions to the CSU during the study period. The average length of stay was 60.27 hr. The total annual cost of the PCRCSU was $1,636,831 and average per admission cost was $3,054. Our results provide valuable economic data to government stakeholders who are considering establishing a CSU.

Who Would Pay Higher Taxes for Better Mental Health? Results of a Large-Sample National Choice Experiment.

Policy Points  Public funding for mental health programs must compete with other funding priorities in limited state budgets.  Valuing state-funded mental health programs in a policy-relevant context requires consideration of how much benefit from other programs the public is willing to forgo to increase mental health program benefits and how much the public is willing to be taxed for such program benefits.  Taxpayer resistance to increased taxes to pay for publicly funded mental health programs and perceived benefits of such programs vary with state population size.  In all states, taxpayers seem to support increased public funding for mental health programs such as state Medicaid services, suggesting such programs are underfunded from the perspective of the average taxpayer. CONTEXT: The direct and indirect impacts of serious mental illness (SMI) on health care systems and communities represents a significant burden. However, the value that community members place on alleviating this burden is not known, and SMI treatment must compete with a long list of other publicly funded priorities. This study defines the value of public mental health interventions as what the public would accept, either in the form of higher taxes or in reductions in nonhealth programs, in return for increases in the number of mental health program beneficiaries. METHODS: We developed and fielded a best-practice discrete-choice experiment survey to quantify respondents' willingness to be taxed for increased spending among several competing programs, including a program for treating severe mental health conditions. A realistic decision frame was used to elicit respondents' willingness to support expanded state budgets for mental health programs if that expansion required either cuts in the competing publicly financed programs or tax increases. The survey was administered to a general population national sample of 10,000 respondents. FINDINGS: Nearly half the respondents in our sample either chose "no budget increase" for all budget scenarios or had preferences that were too disordered to estimate trade-off values. Including zero values for those respondents, we found that the mean (median) amount that all respondents were willing to be taxed annually for public mental health programs ranged between $156 ($99) per year for large-population states and $343 ($181) per year for small-population states. Respondents would accept reductions of between 1.6 and 3.4 beneficiaries in other programs in return for 1 additional mental health program beneficiary. CONCLUSIONS: Our results are consistent with findings that a substantial portion of the US public is unwilling to pay higher taxes. Nevertheless, even including the substantial number of respondents who opposed any tax increase, the willingness of both the mean and median respondent to be taxed for mental health program expansions implies that programs providing mental health services such as state Medicaid are underfunded.

Public mental health service use by people with intellectual disability in New South Wales and its costs.

OBJECTIVES: To describe the population characteristics of people with intellectual disability in New South Wales; to quantify and compare public mental health service use and costs for people with and without intellectual disability in NSW during 2014-15. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort data linkage analysis. SETTING, PARTICIPANTS: People using publicly funded in- or outpatient (admitted or non-admitted) mental health services in NSW, 2014-15. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Numbers of bed days (inpatient mental health services), and treatment days (ambulatory mental health); costs of publicly funded mental health services. RESULTS: People with intellectual disability comprised 1.1% of the NSW population, but 6.3% of people who used public mental health services; 12% of public mental health costs during 2014-15 were for people with intellectual disability. Compared with metropolitan local health districts (LHDs), overall public mental health service costs were lower for rural and regional LHDs (adjusted incidence rate ratio [aIRR], 0.8; 95% CI, 0.8-0.9) and higher for specialty networks (aIRR, 1.2; 95% CI, 1.1-1.3). Per person costs for people with intellectual disability were higher than for those without intellectual disability (aIRR, 2.6; 95% CI, 2.2-3.0). CONCLUSION: People with intellectual disability use public mental health services to a greater degree than other people. They should be explicitly considered by all tiers of mental health policy and service planning in Australia. Population health planning for the needs of people with disabilities would be assisted by including disability identifiers in all health administrative data sets.

Social impacts and costs of schizophrenia: a national cohort study using New Zealand linked administrative data.

AIM: To identify a national population of individuals living with schizophrenia in New Zealand, and to examine health, social support, justice, economic outcomes and estimated government costs compared to a matched comparison group. METHODS: Data were sourced from the Integrated Data Infrastructure. Individuals with a schizophrenia diagnosis in public hospital discharge or specialist secondary mental health service data, aged 18 to 64 and living in New Zealand were included in the schizophrenia population. Propensity score matching was used to select a comparison group of individuals without schizophrenia from the New Zealand resident population and compare outcomes and costs. RESULTS: In 2015 there were 18,096 people living with schizophrenia in New Zealand, a prevalence of 6.7 per 1,000 people. Compared to the matched comparison population, individuals with schizophrenia had higher hospitalisation rates for mental (OR=52.80) and physical (OR=1.18) health conditions. They were more likely to receive social welfare benefits (OR=17.64), less likely to be employed (OR=0.11) and had lower income ($26,226 lower). Per-person government costs were higher for the schizophrenia group across all domains, particularly health ($14,847 higher) and social support ($11,823 higher). CONCLUSION: Schizophrenia is associated with a range of adverse health, social and economic outcomes and considerably higher government costs compared to the general population.

Impact of closure of the in-house psychiatric care unit on prehospital and emergency ward length of stay and disposition locations in patients who attempted suicide: A retrospective before-and-after cohort study at a community hospital in Japan.

ABSTRACT: Suicide is an increasingly serious public health care concern worldwide. The impact of decreased in-house psychiatric resources on emergency care for suicidal patients has not been thoroughly examined. We evaluated the effects of closing an in-hospital psychiatric ward on the prehospital and emergency ward length of stay (LOS) and disposition location in patients who attempted suicide.This was a retrospective before-and-after study at a community emergency department (ED) in Japan. On March 31, 2014, the hospital closed its 50 psychiatric ward beds and outpatient consultation days were decreased from 5 to 2 days per week. Electronic health record data of suicidal patients who were brought to the ED were collected for 5 years before the decrease in in-hospital psychiatric services (April 1, 2009-March 31, 2014) and 5 years after the decrease (April 1, 2014-March 31, 2019). One-to-one propensity score matching was performed to compare prehospital and emergency ward LOS, and discharge location between the 2 groups.Of the 1083 eligible patients, 449 (41.5%) were brought to the ED after the closure of the psychiatric ward. Patients with older age, burns, and higher comorbidity index values, and those requiring endotracheal intubation, surgery, and emergency ward admission, were more likely to receive ED care after the psychiatric ward closure. In the propensity matched analysis with 418 pairs, the after-closure group showed a significant increase in median prehospital LOS (44.0 minutes vs 51.0 minutes, P < .001) and emergency ward LOS (3.0 days vs 4.0 days, P = .014) compared with the before-closure group. The rate of direct home return was significantly lower in the after-closure group compared with the before-closure group (87.1% vs 81.6%, odds ratio: 0.66; 95% confidence interval: 0.45-0.96).The prehospital and emergency ward LOS for patients who attempted suicide in the study site increased significantly after a decrease in hospital-based mental health services. Conversely, there was significant reduction in direct home discharge after the decrease in in-house psychiatric care. These results have important implications for future policy to address the increasing care needs of patients who attempt suicide.

Funding and Billing for Integrated Behavioral Health Care.

Integrated behavioral health care (IBHC) improves patient outcomes, decreases cost, and increases patient satisfaction. It has become increasingly evident that IBHC must be incorporated into the US health care system. Although most health care providers agree that IBHC is beneficial, there is great debate regarding financial sustainability. Some studies have shown that incorporating BHCs into primary care clinics allows providers to see more patients, thus generating more revenue indirectly. In this article, the authors discuss funding and billing for IBHC. The authors truly believe that once properly implemented, IBHC will lower costs and improve patient care in the long run.

Barriers for Ethnic Minorities and Low Socioeconomic Status Pediatric Patients for Behavioral Health Services and Benefits of an Integrated Behavioral Health Model.

The integrated behavioral health care model in primary care has the potential to reduce barriers to care experienced by children and families from ethnic minorities and low socioeconomic status. Limited access to pediatric behavioral health care is a significant problem, with up to 40% of children and adolescents with identified mental disorders and only 30% of them receiving care. Barriers include transportation, insurance, and shortage of specialists. Primary care provider bias, decreased knowledge and feelings of competence, and cultural beliefs and stigma also affect earlier diagnosis and treatment, particularly for Hispanic families with low English proficiency and African Americans.

Motivation and methods of external organisations investing in mental health in low-income and middle-income countries: a qualitative study.

Mental disorders (including substance use disorders, dementia, and self-harm) account for a substantial burden of disease and economic costs in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), yet they attract little funding. External resources are urgently needed but evidence on investments is scarce. This Health Policy paper uses 35 elite interviews and documentary analyses to examine how and why external organisations have invested in mental health in LMICs over the past three decades, and how this investment has changed over time. Four levels are examined: organisations, source countries, recipient countries, and global landscape. Organisations have invested in numerous internal and external activities. Among the various factors shaping organisational decisions, actors (ie, individuals and organisations concerned with mental health) were the most salient at all four levels. To increase external organisation investments in mental health in LMICs, organisational leadership and understanding are crucial, along with increased political support in source and recipient countries, and a stronger governance structure at the global level.

Costs of Health Service Use among Unemployed and Underemployed People with Mental Health Problems.

BACKGROUND: Unemployment is associated with a high risk of experiencing mental illness. This can lead to stigmatisation, reduced quality of life, and long-term costs like increased healthcare expenditure and productivity losses for society as a whole. Previous research indicates evidence for an association between unemployment and higher mental health service costs, but there is insufficient information available for the German healthcare system. AIM OF THE STUDY: This study aims to identify costs and cost drivers for health and social service use among unemployed people with mental health problems in Germany. METHODS: A sample of 270 persons participated at baseline and six-month-follow-up. Healthcare and social service use was assessed using the Client Socio-Demographic and Service Receipt Inventory. Descriptive cost analysis was performed. Associations between costs and potential cost drivers were tested using structural equation modelling. RESULTS: Direct mean costs for 12 months range from EUR 1265.13 (somatic costs) to EUR 2206.38 (psychiatric costs) to EUR 3020.70 (total costs) per person. Path coefficients indicate direct positive effects from the latent variable mental health burden (MHB) on stigma stress, somatic symptoms, and sick leave. DISCUSSION: The hypothesis that unemployed people with mental health problems seek help for somatic symptoms rather than psychiatric symptoms was not supported. Associations between MHB and costs strongly mediated by sick leave indicate a central function of healthcare provision as being confirmation of the inability to work. IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTH POLICIES: Targeted interventions to ensure early help-seeking and reduce stigma remain of key importance in reducing long-term societal costs. IMPLICATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH: Future research should explore attitudes regarding effective treatment for the target group.