title: Establishing a function-based mental health service line in a VA medical center.
abstract: From 1994 through 1996, a general Veterans Affairs (VA) medical center reorganized its mental health services from a traditional discipline-based structure to a unitary service line organized around patient care functions. A comparison of data from 1993 and 1997 indicated increased efficiency, substantial transfer of patients from inpatient to outpatient care, and growth in academic programs not explainable solely by temporal, regional, or national trends or by trends within the VA medical center. Although the results should be interpreted conservatively because of the observational nature of the study, the reorganization appeared to facilitate the positive changes that occurred over the study period.
authors.affiliation: Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center, RI 02908-4799, USA. mark-bauer@brown.edu
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: McGreevy
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chirico-Post
mesh_terms: D006754:Hospital Restructuring / Q000379:methods*; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010351:Patient Discharge; D010359:Patient Readmission; D011567:Psychiatric Department, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012237:Rhode Island; D000078329:Workforce