Expanded Medical Screening for Public Sector Psychiatric Patients
| Publication year | 1984 |
| Pages | 1651 |
| Citation | Vol. 13 No. 9 Pg. 1651 |
1984, September, Pg. 1651. Expanded Medical Screening for Public Sector Psychiatric Patients
As reported in the August 1984 column, the Colorado legislature recently appropriated $100,000 to launch a pilot program to study the need for increased medical screening of public sector psychiatric patients. In recent years, a number of individuals and organizations have advocated forcefully for expanded medical screening ("EMS"). Advocates claim that wide application of EMS, costing an average of $400 per patient, could save up to 40 percent of all state funds expended annually for medical health. In Colorado, the leading advocate for EMS has been Bonnie Busick, R.N., who, in addition to writing two previous columns for this publication,(fn1) has made numerous speeches and actively lobbied the Colorado legislature for approval of EMS.
The Organization for Program Evaluation ("OPEC") in Colorado recently completed a study of the EMS issue entitled "Expanded Medical Screening for Psychiatric Patients."(fn2) The stated purpose of OPEC's research project was to assess the interpretation of research studies which have been cited in support of various statements made by Busick and others to encourage the application of EMS in Colorado.(fn2) OPEC members participating in the project included researchers and program evaluators from both state and local mental health agencies.
In its study, OPEC also voiced concern over the public policy and funding implications of increased medical screening for public sector psychiatric patients on the grounds that funds currently allocated for the care of clients in hospitals and community programs would be reduced if an EMS program were required without a commensurate increase in appropriations to fund the program. A summary of OPEC's findings and recommendations was submitted to the Division of Mental Health and to the Colorado Association of Community Mental Health Centers and Clinics for further review.
The OPEC study identifies the following three general issues espoused by the advocates of EMS:
1) The belief that what is defined as mental illness is caused by defects, disease or malfunction of the brain, or other organs of the human body;
2) The claim that numerous research studies...
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