This article describes the implementation of Community Treatment Teams
as a strategy to provide services to patients discharged from a state
psychiatric hospital. The closing of Philadelphia State Hospital was
the impetus for the development of an alternative long term care treat
ment system for the seriously mentally ill which was based on a variat
ion of the community treatment team model. This article provides a des
cription of the teams, their functioning, structure, and the impact th
ey have had on the service system.