Does outpatient treatment reduce hospital stay in schizophrenics?

The implementation of community mental health care for psychiatric patients in Mannheim, an industrial city of approximately 300,000 inhabitants, poses questions concerning the impact of outpatient treatment on the probability of rehospitalization. For this purpose the use of extramural facilities by a group of 148 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia was studied over a period of 18 months. Based on a model of utilization that allows for the removal of confounding effects the statistical analysis reveals that outpatient contacts with psychiatrists in practice or with an outpatient clinic indeed reduces time in hospital and also improves the psychopathological status of the patients.