Dr. Meara, who was not involved in the study, does feel that reducing treatment services can have wide-ranging consequences.
“Cutting community resources to treat patients with severe mental illness is a common response to tight local budgets, but it may increase problems in other parts of the healthcare system, and the broader community,” she said.
Dr. Meara added that lack of adequate mental healthcare can also increase hospital visits for other medical reasons, because patients with severe mental illness tend to have more trouble managing medical conditions such as diabetes.
“Readers should understand the importance of high quality and readily available mental health services in our communities,” Dr. Nesper said. “A lack of available mental health resources has a profound impact on clinicians and staff working in the emergency department as well as patients.”
Dr. Meara advises policymakers to consider the negative impact for patients and the hospitals affected when considering cuts in local budgets for community-based treatment of severe mental illness.
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