Verification of Healthcare Needs by the Use of National Health Fund Data - Mental and Behavioural Disorders

Abstract

Background: The ways of gaining the information on healthcare should be verified as the discrepancies between different sources may lead to serious mistakes. Unfortunately, there are few reports on the methodology on healthcare needs assessment especially when mental and behavioural disorders are considered. Methods: The whole-nation statistical data from the Central Statistical Office (CSO) were compared to the whole-nation information on the reimbursed psychotropic medicines from the National Health Found. The most important mental health problems, and the spatial (regional) distribution of mental disorders in Poland were analysed. Results: In 2011 the total number of outpatients registered in psychiatric facilities was 1 404 148 (CSO), and NHF reimbursed psychotropic drugs for 7 870 481 people. The ”neurotic disorders” and “affective disorders” were the most frequent mental problems according to CSO but NHF recognized “alcohol dependence syndrome” and “other neurotic disorders” as the most frequent mental health problems in Poland. The mental health needs in general population according to NHF data were 5,61 times higher than the needs for psychiatric care in outpatient facilities according to CSO. In some regions those differences were higher: up to 8 – 13 times. Conclusion: The comparison of data from CSO and NHF revealed the important spatial differences in healthcare inequalities, scale of double-registration of patients and overconsumption of medicines together with underestimation of healthcare needs. Also other information e.g. on patients’ non-compliance in alcohol dependence syndrome can be obtained in this way.