Previous reports of national spending estimates for mental health services and substance abuse treatment (MHSA) were produced for earlier time periods. The report released in 1998 developed spending estimates for 1986 through 1996 (McKusick et al., 1998) and the report released in 2000 developed spending estimates for 1987 through 1997 (Coffey et al., 2000). This report focuses on spending trends from 1991 through 2001.
The estimates in this report replace prior sets of estimates. Because each report is updated to take advantage of better data sources and improved methods, the estimates contained in this report are not comparable to estimates produced in earlier reports. Policy makers and analysts who want to examine trends in spending should use this report, not earlier reports, nor should they compare previous estimates with these estimates.
The National Health Accounts, produced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), follows a similar convention of reporting revised and updated historical trends when methods or sources change significantly.
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