Announcement Date: June 30, 2016

From the report: “Missouri data suggest that a cyclical relationship exists between access to mental health services, hospital utilization for mental health disorders and adverse outcomes, such as suicide and suicidal thoughts.

  • reportsAccess to mental health services are particularly limited in Missouri where 90 percent of counties are federally-designated mental health shortage areas and 61 percent have no licensed psychiatrists.
  • The growth rate of hospital utilization for mental health disorders in Missouri more than doubled the rate of hospital utilization for all other conditions combined during the previous 10 years.
  • Hospital visits by Missouri residents with diagnosed suicide ideation quadrupled between 2006 and 2015, and the death rate for suicide increased 34 percent between 2003 and 2014. Missouri has the 17th highest suicide rate in the country, and is second highest only to North Dakota in the Midwestern region.”

Continue reading the report from the Hospital Industry Data Institute.

View more research on the cost of untreated mental illness on the BHECON Research Hub.