State mental health agency spending, 1985-1990

Major differences exist among states in the level of spending on mental health care, in the magnitude and direction of changes in those levels, and in the share of resources devoted to state hospital and community-based services. Using data collected by the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) Research Institute, this article describes those differences and examines their relation to a set of state-level fiscal determinants of mental health spending. Levels of spending in 1990 and rates of change in those levels between 1985 and 1990 show virtually no correlation. Changes in spending between 1985 and 1990 are decomposed into several components. States with high growth tend to have high growth in tax capacity and high growth in mental health spending as a share of health and welfare spending.