Determining differential costs of psychiatric care in a VA hospital

This study reports the methodology developed to obtain more meaningful cost data in a VA psychiatric hospital. The VA cost-accounting system provides specific cost data for two major groups of patients: the psychiatric medically infirm (chronic long-term patients with significant physical disabilities who primarily need medical rather than psychiatric care) and all other psychiatric patients. A method was developed to redistribute costs more realistically to individual wards, and to relate them meaningfully to classification of patients and treatment programs. Differential costs are discussed as they relate to evaluation of programs for the delivery of mental health care.