Care of Adults With Mental Health and Substance Abuse Disorders in U.S. Community Hospitals, 2004

This Fact Book examines community hospital care for adults 18 years of age and older with Mental Health Substance Abuse (MHSA) diagnoses. Community hospitals are non-Federal, short-term (or acute care) general and specialty hospitals. They include any type of hospital that is open to the public, such as academic medical centers, medical specialty hospitals, and public hospitals, but they do not include specialty psychiatric or addiction treatment facilities.

Key points from the report include:

• In 2004, 24 percent of stays in community hospitals were for patients with principal and/or secondary MHSA diagnoses - about 7.6 million hospitalizations.
• Of these, 1.9 million hospitalizations (6 percent of adult hospital stays) had a principal MHSA diagnosis and 5.7 million (18 percent) were primarily for non-MHSA diagnoses but had a secondary mental health or substance use diagnosis.
• One out of every 14 hospital stays included substance-related disorders (2.3 million stays).
• About 33 percent of all uninsured stays, 29 percent of Medicaid stays, and 26 percent of Medicare stays were related to MHSA disorders. 
• Over 66 percent of adult hospital stays with MHSA diagnoses were billed to the government in 2004.

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