Private psychiatric hospitals: "excellence is their watchword"

Throughout their history private psychiatric hospitals have been a major force in psychiatry, and their humanistic concern for the mentally ill has resulted in numerous innovations in treatment. Over the past two decades the sharp increase in psychiatric patient care episodes has resulted in a greater reliance on private psychiatric hospitals, and they have reponded by modifying their role, broadening the spectrum of patients served, and developing alternatives to inpatient treatment. In addition to continuing to provide high-quality inpatient care, private psychiatric hospitals in the future should expand various alternatives to such care, explore opportunities for collaboration with other health care systems, and provide more patient services to the underserved.