A Strategy of Necessary Mass Transfer and Its Impact on Patient Mortality

Abstract

When budget cuts were mandated for the New York State Dept. of Mental Hygiene in April, 1971, 2,174 psychiatric patients, most of whom were chronic, were transferred as part of a plan for dealing with budget reductions. This paper describes the plan and examines the mortality experience among these transferred patients during an II-mo. Period after relocation. Results suggest that, although relocation is often reported to be life-threatening to the chronic or elderly patient, no evidence was found that relocation had a markedly deleterious effect on relatively physically well patients, even among those 65 years of age or over at time of transfer. Nor did change of setting—from a less active environment to a more active one—have a demonstrable effect on the proportion of relocated patients dying.