MENTAL-HEALTH-SERVICES FOR NURSING-HOME RESIDENTS - WHAT WILL IT COST

The Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987 requires nursing homes to provide basic mental health services for all residents and to give active ment al health treatment, a set of specialized mental health services, to t hose residents who are admitted with a serious mental illness. This ar ticle examines the potential size of the nursing home population who w ill require mental health services, its demographic composition, and t he facilities in which these individuals reside using the Institutiona l Population Component of the National Medical Expenditure Survey. Est imates of the potential costs of providing monthly psychotherapy and p harmacological management to this population in nursing homes indicate that the mandate will have significant financial effects on nursing f acilities. Conclusions about how the requirements for maintaining the mental and psychosocial well-being of nursing home residents may affec t the future of nursing home care and mental health care are considere d