The data used in this analysis was obtained from table 2 of the data given in “Service Use and Health Status of Persons With Severe Mental Illness in Full-Risk and No-Risk Medicaid Programs” by Joseph P. Morrissey, Alan R. Ellis et all.
The data was sorted, and separated according to whether capitation had an influence on the take-up of costly services by the mentally ill patients.
The primary constants that were used were drawn from both the major psychiatric services as well as the medical services, and they include:
The psychiatric services constants were: Contact with psychiatrist, Case management, counselling, vocational training, and psychiatric admission.
The medical services constants were: Primary care, Medical admission, medical prescription, and medical specialist.
At the same time, some variables were used including: capitation with regards to number of patients taking up a particular service.
With the help of excel, a computation of the total number of the mentally ill, with and without capitation, who went for costly services was done, and the precise statistics calculated were the sum and the count. Still, percentages could be used for the same purpose; to determine the percentage of patients opting for a particular service.
Summary of the statistics drawn from the calculations are presented in the table below.
Being based solely on the count and sum, many calculations were not needed as the two variables are just enough to draw a conclusion.
Conclusion
From the data obtained, it is very lucid that capitation has a great influence on the take-up of the costly service by the mentally ill. As can be expected, and from the table, the number of patients with enough capital took up more costly services than those without sufficient capital. Again, it is worth to note that psychiatric services in the table are costlier than the normal medical services in the same table in the hospitals for the mentally ill. But again, a discrepancy in the results is evident, most probably due to the timing of this research. All in all, the major part of the data is what has elicited this conclusion.
Table: Summary of the Statistics
| Key Psychiatric Services | Number of patients without capital taking up the service | Number of patients with sufficient capital taking up the service |
| Contact with psychiatrist | 71 | 97 |
| Case management | 64 | 57 |
| Counselling | 25 | 45 |
| Vocational training | 26 | 37 |
| Psychiatric admission | 4 | 15 |
| Key medical services | ||
| Primary care | 52 | 56 |
| Medical prescription | 44 | 48 |
| Medical specialist | 11 | 9 |
| Medical admission | 9 | 6 |