The Importance Of Mental Health Care

Russell, L., (2010), provides these statistics on mental health disorders; he stated that these are common occurrence in the United States, affecting some 44 million adults and 13.7 million children each year. Suicide is the eighth leading cause of death in the United States and 80 percent to 90 percent of people who die by suicide suffered from a mental illness. While most mental health disorders are treatable with medication and other therapies, yet fewer than half of adults and only one-third of children with a diagnosable mental disorder receive treatment. Russell, L., (2010), noted that, under the Affordable Care Act and other recent legislation such as the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, mental health disorders are covered but

This affecting patient’s care, satisfaction, cost containment, and reimbursement strategies. Kippist, L., Fitzgerald, A., (2012), article discussing doctors role in hospitals in Australia is applicable to the outpatient psychiatric settings. They see this role as vital in achieving health reforms at the strategic and operational levels. They feel that since physician have power over a shrinking resource base, they are able to argue from an authoritative and, at times, evidence based position about the allotment of resources. They see physicians’ input into the development and prioritization of health service strategies as one of the most important advantages of the doctors’

This was possible by shifting the patterns of service provided from repeated inpatient hospitalization to regular outpatient service. The study found that the total combined costs for the State assisted outpatient treatment program, mental health, and medical treatment, and criminal justice services showed a decline of 50% in the first year initiated and an additional 13% in the second year. The authors caution that the result may not be the same for every States, because of the differences in operation and administration. In addition, the savings mentioned did not take into the other society cost and the reduced family or caregiver