Comparison of outpatient care of discharged state hospital and non-hospitalized psychiatric emergency room patients.

The present article compares a cohort discharged from two state hospitals in a large urban area with a cohort referred for outpatient services from a psychiatric emergency room. Both cohorts were referred into the same community mental health system of services. The two cohorts are examined in terms of clinical and social demographic characteristics, in part to consider how distinct the two populations appear to be. In addition, patterns of initial contact and the nature and amounts of community services received by each group are compared. Based on these comparisons, some conclusions are drawn regarding the way in which these two groups are served by the community system.