AUTHOR=Altmann Uwe , Zimmermann Anna , Kirchmann Helmut A. , Kramer Dietmar , Fembacher Andrea , Bruckmayer Ellen , Pfaffinger Irmgard , von Heymann Fritz , Auch Emma , Steyer Rolf , Strauss Bernhard M. TITLE=Outpatient Psychotherapy Reduces Health-Care Costs: A Study of 22,294 Insurants over 5 Years JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry VOLUME=7 YEAR=2016 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2016.00098 DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2016.00098 ISSN=1664-0640 ABSTRACT=Background

The project “Quality Assurance in Ambulatory Psychotherapy in Bavaria” (QS-PSY-BAY) focuses on the quality assurance of outpatient psychotherapy (OPT) in Germany in terms of symptom reduction and cost reduction under naturalistic conditions. In this study, we examined the effectiveness of psychotherapy in terms of pre–post cost reduction.

Method

The health-care costs of N = 22,294 insurants over a 5-year period were examined in a naturalistic longitudinal design. Six participating health insurance funds provided data on costs related to inpatient treatment, outpatient treatment, drugs, and hospitalization and work disability days.

Results

We found that the average annual total costs for inpatient and outpatient treatments as well as drug costs and work disability days increased from the second to the first year before OPT. Besides a large and significant reduction of work disability days (41.8%), hospitalization days (27.4%), and inpatient costs (21.5%) from the first year before versus the first year following OPT, we found evidence for long-term effects: the number of work disability days in the second year after OPT was lower (23.8%), and drug costs were higher than in the second year before OPT (41.5%).

Conclusion

We conclude that OPT as a part of the health insurance system is an investment which can pay off in the future especially in terms of lower inpatient costs and work disability.