 |
Online ISSN: 1099-176X Print
ISSN: 1091-4358 Copyright © 2019 ICMPE. |
 |
PERSPECTIVES |
|
Agnes Rupp,1* Michael C. Freed,1 Denise Juliano-Bult2 |
1Ph.D., Division of Services and
Intervention Research, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes
of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA |
* Correspondence to: Agnes Rupp, Senior Research
Economist, NIMH/NIH 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
E-mail:
arupp@mail.nih.gov; rupp.agnes1976@gmail.com
Source of Funding: None declared.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors, and no official endorsement by the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is intended or should be inferred.
|
|
Two important areas are highlighted in this review: (i) the impact of insurance and labor markets on the delivery of high-quality mental health services, and (ii) the need for advancements in method development and design in future studies. The complexity of health insurance markets created some unintended consequence of the mental health insurance parity legislation. Mental health provider shortages in local labor markets are a barrier to successful implementation and sustainment of innovative and evidence-based mental health service-delivery models for people with serious mental illness. Data-capture techniques that seamlessly integrate insurance claims with clinical outcomes (e.g., from electronic health records) will better equip health economists and other end-users with rigorous research findings to inform public health policy and practice recommendations. Despite early signals of success, larger sample sizes and more rigorous research designs are needed to refine predictive models of functional outcomes of evidence-based service-delivery models (e.g., coordinated specialty care model including supported education, and supported employment) for people with first-episode psychosis. |
|
Method: In this perspective article, the authors comment on two papers presented at the NIMH-sponsored Mental Health Services Research Conference in 2018 and subsequently published in the September 2019 issue of the Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics. Two important areas are highlighted in this review: (i) the impact of insurance and labor markets on the delivery of high-quality mental health services, and (ii) the need for advancements in method development and design in future studies. Discussion: The complexity of health insurance markets created some unintended consequence of the mental health insurance parity legislation. Mental health provider shortages in local labor markets are a barrier to successful implementation and sustainment of innovative and evidence-based mental health service-delivery models for people with serious mental illness. Implications for Research: Data-capture techniques that seamlessly integrate insurance claims with clinical outcomes (e.g., from electronic health records) will better equip health economists and other end-users with rigorous research findings to inform public health policy and practice recommendations. Despite early signals of success, larger sample sizes and more rigorous research designs are needed to refine predictive models of functional outcomes of evidence-based service-delivery models (e.g., coordinated specialty care model including supported education, and supported employment) for people with first-episode psychosis. |
Received 22 October 2019; accepted 14 November 2019
Copyright © 2019 ICMPE