Variations in utilization and cost of inpatient psychiatric services amongadults in Maryland

The author examined variations in the clinical characteristics, costs, util ization, and discharge patterns of adult inpatients who were hospitalized f or psychiatric disorders in Maryland state general hospitals in 1998. Admin istrative discharge data on all 30,121 adult psychiatric patients in the st ate in 1998 were used to calculate descriptive statistics on elderly (age 6 5 years and over) and nonelderly (age 19 to 64 years) patients. The most co mmon reasons for hospitalization were substance-related disorders, which af fected 25 percent of the patients, and major depressive disorders, which af fected 24.6 percent of the patients. After the effects of Medicare's prospe ctive payment system were disregarded, the average cost of treating elderly persons for depression was calculated to be around 80 percent higher than national estimates.