Meeting Summary
The 14th NIMH Biennial Research Conference on the Economics of Mental Health
September 25, 2008 – September 26, 2008
Bethesda, MD
Sponsored by:
NIMH
Division of Services and Intervention Research
Program Committee Chairs:
Douglas Leslie, Ph.D., Medical University of South Carolina
Agnes Rupp, Ph.D., National Institute of Mental Health
In September 2008, the NIMH Division of Services and Intervention Research sponsored the 14th NIMH Biennial Research Conference on the Economics of Mental Health. This year the program committee invited investigators to present original policy-relevant research that can contribute toward building a high performance mental health system.
Twelve research papers were selected for presentation. Among others, the following topics were addressed: economics of pharmaceuticals; cost and cost-effectiveness of mental health interventions; financing of child and adolescent mental health services; and efficiency of treatment personalization. Discussions of the findings of the presented papers direct toward the need of developing new methodological approaches especially in the area of measuring the efficiency of treatment customization and the economic evaluation of clinical trials.
One doctoral trainee abstract submission, entitled “Psychiatric Bed Supply, Community Mental Health Resources, and Jail Detention among Mentally Ill Persons,” by Yangho Yoon, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at UC-Berkeley was selected for the Robert Dorwart Doctoral Student Podium Presentation. The keynote address--The Tenth Carl Taube Lecture--was delivered by Judith R. Lave, Ph.D., from the University of Pittsburgh. She spoke about “Reforming Health Care Payment? Integrating Behavioral and Physical Health Care.”
Over eighty researchers, including health economists and psychiatrists from academia, government, and the private sector attended the meeting. A reception hosted by his former students honored Professor Thomas G. McGuire, Ph.D., from Harvard Medical School, for his 30-year scientific research contribution to the economics of mental health and the impact of his research on mental health care financing policy formulation.
For more information, please contact Agnes Rupp, Ph.D., arupp@mail.nih.gov.
