Psychiatry Investig.  2021 Jul;18(7):695-700. 10.30773/pi.2021.0014.

The Economic Impact of Providing Evidence-Based Pediatric Mental Health Literacy Training to Primary Care Physicians

Affiliations
  • 1Alberta Health Services, Child and Adolescent Addiction and Mental Health and Psychiatry Program, Calgary, Canada
  • 2Department of Psychiatry, The University of Calgary, Cumming School of Medicine, Calgary, Canada
  • 3Department of Paediatrics, The University of Calgary, Cumming School of Medicine, Calgary, Canada
  • 4Department of Community Health Sciences, The University of Calgary, Cumming School of Medicine, Calgary, Canada

Abstract


Objective
This paper presents a review of the current state of child and adolescent mental health literacy and provides current evidence of the economic impact of a pediatric mental health literacy (MHL) training program.
Methods
Employing a case-series-comparison design, physician referrals to urgent and specialized mental health services were linked with patient-specific information comparing referrals from MHL participants and non-participating physicians. The economic impact analysis was based on changes in the admitted referral frequency and lengths of stay for the MHL group, compared to themselves pretraining, and over the same time period compared to non-participating physicians.
Results
Average scheduled ambulatory admission rates per physician remained constant for trained and untrained pre-post groups. Average scheduled ambulatory admission wait time and length of stay reduced significantly post-training for MHL-trained physicians compared to pre-training and untrained physicians. In addition to reductions in length of stay, the total bed costs saving for emergency/ inpatients admission deferrals was $2,932,112 or about $20,000 per MHL-trained physician.
Conclusion
The estimated economic impact of the MHL training shows a substantial return on investment and supports wider implementation. The MHL training program should be a key feature of mental health reform strategies, as well as continuing and undergraduate medical education.

Keyword

Health economics, Pediatric, Mental health literacy, Primary care physicians
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