Thursday, August 26, 2004

Calculating the Costs of Mental Health Care
NPR story (in print and audio) - "Treatment for mental illness is a major driver of health care inflation and second only to heart disease, according to a new study in the journal Health Affairs. And among mental health treatments, antidepressant drugs known as SSRIs are a big contributor to that cost inflation, the study concludes. Over the last year, pharmacies filled more than $146 million in prescriptions for SSRIs." See also the Health Affairs articles, Effect of Declining Mental Health Service Use on Employees of a Large Corporation and Depression in the Workplace. The NPR page also includes links to other, related resources online.