Patient Re-entry Into the Community

The National Association of Private Psychiatric Hospitals, in cooperation with 19 other national health-related associations, held a conference last June in Washington, D.C., on the issues involved in patient re-entry into the community. Representatives of the legal and medical professions, the insurance industry, allied health and mental health organizations, and federal, state, and local officials discussed the complex legal, social, and treatment problems that have resulted from the national movement of deinstitutionalization. As a start toward solving those problems, most of the speakers mentioned the need for partnerships among state, local, federal, and private providers, between the hospitals and community-based facilities, and among all mental health professionals. Several speakers emphasized the need for an effective advocacy system for the mentally ill and the need for mental health professionals to learn to use the political system in order to secure benefits for patients re-entering the community.