A STAFFING MODEL-BASED ON WORKLOAD IN 3 VA MENTAL-HEALTH CLINICS

In the era of managed care, agencies that provide mental health care c an cope with the increasing volume of patients and the increasing seve rity of their conditions by having a variety of mental health professi onals provide services. A model for determining workforce needs for ou tpatient mental health clinics is described, The model was used with w orkload data from three Veterans Affairs clinics to determine that two psychiatrists and five or six: nonpsychiatrists should be able to eva luate 400 new patients a year and provide ongoing care for 2,300 patie nts a year in such settings. The method can be adapted to determine wo rkforce needs for other outpatient clinical settings.