Dr Dana Goldman Outlines How to Meet the Needs of Patients With Mental Illness

the Leonard D. Schaeffer Chair and Director of the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at the University of Southern California

Patients with mental illness can be a very difficult population to treat and programs need to be established that properly meet the health needs of these patients, said Dana Goldman, PhD, .

Transcript (modified)

Schizophrenics in states with prior authorization requirements were 22% more likely to be jailed for a non-violent crime than their counterparts in states without those requirements. What policy changes are needed to appropriately meet the health needs of schizophrenic patients?

This is a real problem for society. We need to get these patients into care—they’re a very hard population to treat.

Severe mental illness is a real public burden and so we need to figure out programs that house this population, get them into care, get them stabilized on medication, and ensure that when they leave the psychiatric care system that they’re appropriately followed.