Costs of intensive psychiatric care for treatment-resistant minors

Mental health problems in childhood and adolescence result in high costs to society. Despite the relevance of these problems, there are still relatively few economic evaluations of this domain, in particular the evaluation of the costs of treatment-resistant minors.

The study is aimed to evaluate the costs of mental services use of 52 treatment-resistant minors at the Intensive Psychiatric Care Unit of the Niuvanniemi Hospital, in Kupio, Finland, and the costs of the mental health services used by these patients before their referral to this unit.

The data were collected from case history files of minors (N 2dd = 2dd 52) who were directed to the intensive psychiatric care unit between 2004 and 2007. The data included information of the use of earlier specialised medical psychiatric care. The study evaluated the cost of daily bed charges for treatment-resistant minors.

The mean duration of the intensive psychiatric care unit treatment was twelve months. The average cost was 367,150/patient. Fifty-one per cent of the minors were discharged to less intensive mental health services after the intensive psychiatric care.

The costs of intensive psychiatric treatment are currently high. Benefits may be achieved over time. Further research should monitor and analyse the benefit of such expensive treatment on the outcomes of treatment-resistant patients over time, an investment in the minors' future, that ultimately benefits society.