TABLE G. NUMBER AND PERCENT DISTRIBUTION OF RESIDENTS IN ALCOHOLISM HALFWAY HOUSES BY LENGTH OF STAY: UNITED STATES AUGUST 1971 MEDIAN LENGTH OF STAY FOR RESIDENTS IN ALCOHOLISM HALFWAY HOUSES TABLE 1. NUMBER AND PERCENT DISTRIBUTION OF RESIDENTS IN ALCOHOLISM HALFWAY HOUSES BY EMPLOYMENT STATUS: UNITED STATES, AUGUST 1971 Based on reports from 326 of 337 known facilities. TABLE J. PERCENT EMPLOYED RESIDENTS ARE OF TOTAL RESIDENTS IN ALCOHOLISM Statistical Note 77 DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE HEALTH SERVICES AND MENTAL HEALTH ADMINISTRATION SURVEY AND REPORTS SECTION PROVISIONAL PATIENT MOVEMENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE DATA During fiscal year 1972, there were some significant changes in the patient movement data for State and county mental hospitals. For the first time since 1950, admissions during the year and net releases alive from hospital decreased. The number of inpatients at end of year continued the downward trend noted since 1955 and the number of full-time equivalent inpatient staff declined for the second year in a row. Inpatients-End of Year Provisional data for fiscal year 1972 indicate that the number of inpatients in the 327 1/ State and county mental hospitals in the United States as of June 30, 1972 was 275,995 (Table 1). This represents a drop of 32,029 patients, or a ten percent decline over the past year.2/ Thus for the seventeenth consecutive year this population has declined. Since 1964, the decrease has been accelerating each year and continued to do so in 1972. Data for 1969 thru 1972 presented in Table 5 show this accelerating decline for the United States over the past four years. The overall national decline in the inpatient population in State and county mental hospitals between 1971 and 1972 was reflected in all but six States (Table 6B). In 20 States the decline was ten percent or more and in 15 other States the decline was between five and ten percent. Reasons for this decline relate to many factors that affect the population dynamics of the mental hospital. These factors, which operate to a greater or lesser extent in every State in the Nation, include: increased availability and utilization of alternate care facilities for the aged; increased availability and utilization of outpatient and aftercare facilities; gradual reduction in the length of stay of admissions; introduction of community mental health centers; affiliation of community mental health centers with State mental hospitals; introduction of more effective screening procedures to prevent inappropriate admissions, administrative changes such as the introduction of the geographic unit system; and deliberate administrative efforts to reduce the resident population. These factors are, of course, highly inter-related and affect the rates of admission, readmission, and duration of stay, which in turn generate changes in the resident patient population. March 1973 Helen E. Bethel |