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Reducing the number of physical health issues associated with mental health conditions, such as alcohol use disorders, bipolar disorder, depressive disorders, and schizophrenia, by just 1% could translate to savings of over 190 million Euros (equivalent to around £164 million UK pounds) in hospital costs every year in Europe. That is according to a new modelling study published in the Lancet Psychiatry journal.
The authors, including Professor Judit Simon and Professor Guy Goodwin from the University of Oxford, say their study highlights the importance of integrating mental and physical healthcare to improve overall health outcomes and reduce costs, and they suggest that better access to and quality of care for both mental and physical health can lead to significant economic benefits for healthcare systems in Europe.
Lead author Professor Simon, Visiting Professor of Cognitive Health Economics at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford, said:
Our estimates show that strengthened routine assessment and reporting of both mental and physical illnesses would not only improve care and health outcomes for patients, but could reduce both mental and non-mental health care costs substantially.”
People with mental health conditions have a higher rate of physical health conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and infectious diseases, when compared to the general population. These conditions also lead to higher healthcare costs. Understanding the size of these extra costs is important for improving the integration of mental and physical healthcare and reducing related economic costs, but this hadn’t been fully studied in Europe before.
This current study is the first to estimate the excess annual hospital costs of non-mental health related physical health issues for those with selected serious mental health conditions in Europe. The study modelled hospital costs for non-mental health services in 32 European countries, including the UK, finding that people with serious mental health conditions face significantly higher costs for physical health care compared to the general population in Europe, amounting to approximately €55.3 billion euros annually.
The study suggests the costs were €20.3 billion for alcohol use disorders, €6.7 billion for bipolar disorder, €26.5 billion for depressive disorders, and €1.8 billion for schizophrenia. The authors highlight that people with schizophrenia potentially under-utilise services.
The authors say their study is the first quantification of economic benefits that could be achieved in the European hospital sector by reducing physical health issues related with serious mental health conditions through enhanced preventive, diagnostic and access efforts, and better integrated service pathways.