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Use Of A State Inpatient Forensic System Under Managed Mental Health Care, William Fisher, Barbara Dickey, Sharon-Lise Normand, Ira Packer, Albert Grudzinskas, Hocine Azeni

Ira K Packer

OBJECTIVES: One of the goals of managed mental health care has been to lower the use of inpatient psychiatric treatment. In the past, interventions that have limited hospitalization for persons with severe mental illness have led to greater involvement of these individuals with the criminal justice and forensic mental health systems. The authors examined associations between Medicaid managed mental health care in Massachusetts and rates of admission to the inpatient forensic mental health service maintained by the state's mental health department. METHODS: A total of 7,996 persons who were receiving services from the department before and after the introduction of …