The clinical consequences of payment limitations: the experience of a private psychiatric hospital.

Abstract

In the search for cost efficiency, psychiatric patients are experiencing greater restrictions on their insurance benefits. Managed psychiatric care may provide a useful alternative to arbitrary benefit limits, but may also interfere with treatment, especially if there is a disagreement between the manager and the responsible clinician. Three clinical vignettes are presented and the implications of possible premature discharge described as a first step in building a research agenda on the clinical consequences of managed psychiatric care.