Am J Psychiatry 1988; 145:457-463
Copyright © 1988 by American Psychiatric Association
Types of patients served by various providers of outpatient care in CMHCs
C Windle, PJ Poppen, JW Thompson and K Marvelle
NIMH, Rockville, MD 20857.
Representative community mental health center (CMHC) survey data showed
that psychiatrists differed from other CMHC providers of mental health
services by serving the more seriously impaired patients who are admitted
and readmitted to outpatient services. Psychiatrists also shared more
outpatients with providers from other disciplines than providers in other
disciplines shared with one another. The results are consistent with
previous research on differences between disciplines and with the flight of
psychiatrists from CMHCs but cast doubt on the hypothesis that
psychiatrists see sicker patients than psychologists see because of
differences in reimbursement between the two disciplines.
