Table D.1: Descriptions and Limitations of Currently Available Data on Medicaid Financing of Public Psychiatric Hospitals

Dataset Source Purpose/Description Relevant Aspects Limitations
HCFA-64 CMS Actual Medicaid expenditures incurred by States, broken into 24 statutorily defined categories, filed for the purposes of obtaining the Medicaid Federal match

Two categories

  • Mental health
  • Mental health DSH, by State, 1994–1999
  • Categories are total expenditures not broken out by provider type
  • Does not include revenues (i.e., impact of IGTs)
Medicaid DSH files CMS DSH expenditures by hospital, categorized as public, private, psychiatric, acute, and child, filed with CMS to verify DSH caps
  • Identifies all psychiatric hospitals that receive DSH, the amount, and whether public or private
  • By hospital, by State, 1998–2000
  • Collection began only in fiscal year 1998
  • Does not identify ownership beyond "public," i.e., State- versus county-owned
  • Not all States have reported; there are State-by-State variations in reporting
  • Inconsistencies with HCFA-64 "mental health DSH"
  • Does not include revenues (i.e., impact of IGTs)
Inventory of Mental Health Organizations and General Hospital Mental Health Services (IMHO) Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) Inventory of all specialty mental health organizations and separate psychiatric services of non-Federal general hospitals; collects funding source, expenditures, patients served, and so forth for research and policymaking Identifies State and county psychiatric hospitals, shows Medicaid funding, 1994
  • Data from 1994; collection also for 1998 and 2001, but only for sample (not complete inventory)
  • Sources of funding are broad categories: Medicaid, client fees, Federal block grants, and so forth
  • Does not include revenues (i.e., impact of IGTs)
State Mental Health Agency Revenues and Expenditures Study NRI, NASMHPD Funding sources and expenditures of State mental health agencies (SMHA) Funding from SMHA to State psychiatric hospitals, 1997
  • Funding from SMHA to State mental hospitals not broken out by hospital or funding type (DSH versus other things)
  • Does not include revenues (i.e., impact of IGTs)
Mental Health Facilities 2000 National Mental Health Information Center Database with all mental health service organizations by facility type and address; provides consumer information about where to seek psychiatric services Identifies psychiatric facilities by State and type of organization(i.e., "psychiatric hospital"), 2000
  • Does not identify ownership (private/State/local)
  • No expenditure/revenue information
Directory of State Psychiatric Hospitals NASMHPD Database of all State psychiatric hospitals in the county, by State, and with address; consumer information Identifies all State psychiatric hospitals, 1998
  • Does not include county psychiatric hospitals
  • No expenditure/revenue information

Source: Assessment of noted databases.

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