The American journal of psychiatry
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Day hospital/crisis respite care versus inpatient care, Part II: Service utilization and costs.
The authors compared service utilization and costs for acutely ill psychiatric patients treated in a day hospital/crisis respite program or in a hospital inpatient program. ⋯ The programs were equally effective, but day hospital/crisis respite treatment was less expensive for some patients. Potential cost savings are higher for nonpsychotic patients. Cost differences between the programs are driven by the hospital's relatively higher overhead costs. The roughly equal expenditures for direct service staff costs in the two programs may be an important clue for understanding why these programs provided equally effective acute care.