The journal of mental health policy and economics
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J Ment Health Policy Econ · Dec 2006
Health care resource use associated with integrated psychological treatment.
Mental health policies, advocating outpatient as well as community mental health care for the severely mentally ill, are aiming towards health system cost containment and patient quality of life. Programs with cognitive behavioral therapy, such as the Integrated Psychological Therapy (IPT), added to standard medical therapy for patients with schizophrenia have been associated with improved outcomes. A Quebec version of the IPT program was integrated in outpatient clinics and improvements were observed in overall symptoms, subjective experiences, cognitive and social functioning, and quality of life. In light of these results we deemed it relevant to describe the health system cost and patient resource use associated with the program. The costs related to IPT have not been previously reported and this study will elucidate on effective health services and budget allocation needed to include IPT. ⋯ Additional research is needed to examine in parallel the long-term clinical and cost impact of the IPT program in different clinical settings (young adults to long term mentally ill). This will elucidate to which patient population IPT is most cost-effective.