Managed psychiatric care: a suburban medical department activity model

Munson Army Community Hospital has successfully realized substantial cost savings by instituting psychiatric managed care. The development of an external partnership with a civilian psychiatric facility is a unique aspect of the psychiatric managed care initiative and has resulted in most of the savings. We staff this partnership hospital with one-half full-time-equivalent psychiatrist. Other psychiatric managed care program elements include: (1) using CHAMPUS "recapture" funds to hire additional personnel; (2) maximizing personnel utilization by combining mental health staff from the social work and psychiatry services; (3) working closely with the community to identify local mental health needs; (4) offering additional therapeutic modalities; and (5) reducing rehospitalization rates through improved discharge planning. We reduced our financial-year first quarter costs by 76% from 1993 to 1995. We attributed much of these savings to reduced residential treatment admissions. Although the total number of outpatient visits increased, Munson's psychiatric services reduced outpatient costs by increasing clinic access. We have used the Gateway to Care program to prepare for the initiation of Tri-Care in our region.