Average cost per treatment day of non-admitted care provided by mental health services

Rationale

Public community mental health services consist of a range of community-based services such as emergency assessment and treatment, case management, day programs, rehabilitation, psychosocial, residential services and continuing care. The aim of these services is to provide the best health outcomes for the individual through the provision of accessible and appropriate community mental health care. Efficient functioning of public community mental health services is essential to ensure that finite funds are used effectively to deliver maximum community benefit.

Public community-based mental health services are generally targeted towards people in the acute phase of a mental illness who are receiving post-acute care. This indicator provides a measure of the cost-effectiveness of treatment for public psychiatric patients under public community mental health care (non-admitted/ambulatory patients). 

Target

The 2023-24 target for average cost per treatment day of non-admitted care provided by mental health services is $528. Improved or maintained performance is demonstrated by a result below or equal to target. 

Results

Commentary

The results for 2023-24 demonstrate that EMHS has performed favourably against the target. While this is a good outcome for the current year and has been achieved while experiencing a marginal increase in activity, a comparison across all reported years highlights an average increase of $49 year on year and therefore an upward trend in the costs of mental health treatment days.

The costs of providing support and treatment within a community setting are generally more expensive as additional effort, attention and resourcing may be needed to ensuring standards and models of care and support for mental health cases are maintained outside of a hospital environment, and this can impact on a hospital’s ability to operate efficiently. However, as it is more beneficial for the individual receiving the care to do so in a community setting, this may be preferrable to any considerations with regard to efficiency.