Local inpatient units may increase XXXX ' utilization of outpatient services: a comparative cohort-study in Nordland County, Norway.

@entity1 @entity1316 @entity146
OBJECTIVES: In the last few decades, there has been a restructuring of the @entity146 services in many countries. The complexity of these systems may represent a challenge to @entity1 that suffer from serious @entity146 . We examined whether local integration of inpatient and outpatient services in contrast to centralized institutions strengthened continuity of care. METHODS: Two different service-systems were compared. Service-utilization over a 4-year period for 690 inpatients was extracted from the @entity1 registries. The results were controlled for demographic variables, model of service-system, central inpatient admission or local inpatient admission, diagnoses, and duration of inpatient stays. RESULTS: The majority of inpatients in the area with local integration of inpatient and outpatient services used both types of care. In the area that did not have beds locally, many @entity1 that had been hospitalized did not receive outpatient follow-up. Predictors of inpatients' use of outpatient @entity146 care were: Model of service-system (centralized vs decentralized), a diagnosis of @entity1316 , central inpatient admission only, and duration of inpatient stays. CONCLUSION: Psychiatric centers with local inpatient units may positively affect continuity of care for @entity1 with severe @entity146 , probably because of a high functional integration of inpatient and outpatient care.
