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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Alexander Cowell, PhD1, David E. Pollio, PhD2, Carol S. North, MD, MPE3, Andrew M. Stewart, BA1, Michelle M. McCabe, MSW2, and Donald W. Anderson, MS1. (1) Behavioral Health Economics Program, RTI International, 3040 Cornwallis Road, PO Box 12194, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2194, 919 541 8754, cowell@rti.org, (2) School of Social Work, Washington University, One Brookings Dr., Box 1196, St. Louis, MO 63130-4899, (3) School of Medicine, Washington University, Department of Psychiatry, 660 S Euclid, CB 8134, Renard Building, Room 2210, St. Louis, MO 63110
An important challenge for costing mental health services is conceptualizing costs for programs emphasizing communal services. Perhaps the most cogent example of a communal service setting is the psychosocial rehabilitation clubhouse where members often perform tasks that would otherwise be performed by paid employees. This paper: (1) discusses “function cost”, a conceptual innovation to estimate costs where consumers are involved both in delivery and receipt of services; (2) develops a methodology for costing service units for psychosocial rehabilitation clubhouses; and (3) presents a case study of a clubhouse program. Using function cost to estimate the value of member time lead to costs being on average at least 5% higher than when using the two alternative methods. Because the case study clubhouse is typical in key dimensions, the methods used here may be generalized to other programs, and should have utility for other rehabilitation-based services to individuals with mental illness.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Cost Issues, Mental Health Services
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.