On direct patient participation in the cost of their psychiatric care. Part II: Access to services, impact on...

A review of the relation between insurance and psychiatric services addresses the economic concerns involved. Under third-party reimbursement, a range of predictability and stability of treatment costs is observed; overall cost benefit and effectiveness for a variety of therapeutic procedures is demonstrated and socio-cultural factors play a role in the users demand behavior. The cost of medical care is a small percentage of the system's total cost and judicious use of psychiatric consultation reduces medical and surgical expenditures. Inherent difficulties for the profession exist in a universal health care scheme. The acceptability of psychological impairment and the confidentiality dilemma are among the issues reviewed. Further attention must be paid to the therapist's fee, behaviour and income needs. A traditional defensiveness regarding these matters should be overcome through a peer review process in order to further delineate responsible financial norms of psychiatric practice. The "laissez-faire" attitude observed in most of our training programs towards financial matters must be addressed in order to participate effectively in the ongoing sociopolitical dialogue on the funding of health care.