Are publicly-insured psychiatric outpatients in Japan satisfied?

Japan has a government financed outpatient program for people with mental d isorders, called the 'publicly-insured' program. This study was performed t o examine whether the target patient population used this publicly-insured program properly and to compare the degree of satisfaction of publicly-insu red psychiatric outpatients with generally-insured psychiatric outpatients. The characteristics and satisfaction of 97 (33.9%) publicly-insured psychi atric outpatients and 124 (55.1%) generally-insured outpatients: in Japan w ere studied. Psychiatrists rated sociodemographic and diagnostic informatio n and patients were asked to complete the Japanese version of Client Satisf action Questionnaire (CSQ-8J). The publicly-insured were longer-term and lo wer functioning patients and were significantly more dissatisfied with the services they received than the generally-insured patients. The publicly-in sured program was successful in that patients with lower functioning (the p rimary target population of this program) were cared for and because they r eceived treatment for longer periods of time. However, the program does not sufficiently satisfy the consumers of the services, despite its high costs . In this respect. this program needs to focus more on patients' points of view. More information on programs their enrollment procedures for patients may be helpful in educating consumers and citizens. clarifying expectation s of services, and in influencing satisfaction. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science I reland Ltd. All rights reserved.