25 - Organization and Delivery of Mental Health Services

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the services provided by physicians, nurses, psychologists, social workers, and other full-time mental health workers. Mental health services are divided into three delivery sectors: the general medical sector, the private mental health sector, and the public mental health sector. The general medical and private mental health sectors deliver care to more patients than the public mental health sector. The chapter focuses on the public mental health sector because of its greater degree of formal organization, its increasing importance in the delivery of services, and the likelihood that the forthcoming national health insurance programs would approximate the programs developed in the public mental health sector. Understanding of the use and effectiveness of mental health services is handicapped by a lack of appropriate comparative data. The delivery of services in the private mental health sector is not organized but is regulated by state licensing authorities, professional associations, peer relations, and third-party payment sources. The delivery of services in the public sector is regulated by state and federal regulations and guidelines. The most visible regulating influences in the private and public mental health sectors achieve their power through controlling payment and funding.