title: Trends in psychiatric inpatient rates from 1991-1995 in the State of Washington: the effect of insurance type on utilization.
abstract: This study examined whether there have been changes in inpatient psychiatric use among publicly and privately insured patients by analyzing trends in adult psychiatric hospitalizations from 1991 through 1995 in the State of Washington. A state-wide Comprehensive Hospital Abstract Reporting System (CHARS) was used to track psychiatric hospital utilization patterns. The results show a significant growth in psychiatric hospitalizations among the publicly insured patients due to their high proportion of severe and persistent mental illness. There was a flat trend in psychiatric hospitalizations suggesting that private insurers aggressively monitor the costly use of hospitalizations for mentally ill patients.
authors.affiliation: Washington State University at Spokane, Washington Institute for Mental Illness Research and Training, WA, USA.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Blodgett
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Molinari
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000639:trends*; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007358:Insurance, Psychiatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008484:Medicaid / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006278:Medicare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy; D014481:United States; D014600:Utilization Review; D014861:Washington / Q000453:epidemiology