The clinical consequences of payment limitations: the experience of a private psychiatric hospital.
In the search for cost efficiency, psychiatric patients are experiencing greater restrictions on their insurance benefits. Managed psychiatric care may provide a useful alternative to arbitrary benefit limits, but may also interfere with treatment, especially if there is a disagreement between the manager and the responsible clinician. Three clinical vignettes are presented and the implications of possible premature discharge described as a first step in building a research agenda on the clinical consequences of managed psychiatric care.
D015142:Baltimore; D006742:Hospital Bed Capacity; D006745:Hospital Bed Capacity, 300 to 499; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D007345:Insurance Claim Review; D007358:Insurance, Psychiatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000191:economics*