Am J Psychiatry 1978; 135:339-342
Copyright © 1978 by American Psychiatric Association
The evolution of psychiatric services in a health maintenance organization
TE Bittker and S Idzorek
The authors describe a prepaid mental health service program in which
outpatients referrals were 34.7 per 1,000 members per month, the hospital
admission rate was .80 admissions per 1,000 members per year, and the
average length of hospital stay was 5.03 days. They offer several
explanations for their finding that the costs for mental health services in
this program appear lower than those in fee-for-service programs.
