It Pays to Pay More

In the care of mental patients, the best is the cheapest in the long run. This is suggested by official Kansas figures, just released, on a six-year drive to treat all cases of severe mental illness as promptly and intensively as possible. Doctors found a telling comparison between Kansas' experience and that of seven other Midwestern states (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin) that have been slower in getting their intensive-treatment campaigns rolling:

P:The number of patients in Kansas state) hospitals dropped (from 4,551 to 4,462)' between 1954 and 1955 because, although more patients were admitted, still more were effectively treated and discharged. In the seven other states, the number still in hospitals increased.

P: In Kansas the daily cost of care went up from $4.19 per patient to $4.39; the cost to each taxpayer worked out at $353 rising to $3.63. Costs to taxpayers in other states rose from $3.72 to $3.99.

P:These economies were made possible by actually increasing the number of doctors and attendants--thus speeding recoveries in many cases. Kansas mental hospitals had a full-time employee for every 2.21 patients in 1954, now have one for every 2.11, while in other states there was only one for 3.89 patients in 1954, and for 3.71 this year.

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