Research Article
Behavioral Health CareMeasuring The Lifetime Costs Of Serious Mental Illness And The Mitigating Effects Of Educational Attainment
- Seth A. Seabury is an associate professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical and Health Economics at the School of Pharmacy and the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, both at the University of Southern California (USC), in Los Angeles.
- Sarah Axeen ([email protected]) is an assistant professor of research at the Keck School of Medicine and the Schaeffer Center, both at USC.
- Gwyn Pauley is a visiting assistant professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
- Bryan Tysinger is a research assistant professor at the Sol Price School of Public Policy and director of health policy microsimulation at the Schaeffer Center, both at USC.
- Danielle Schlosser is a senior clinical scientist at Verily Life Sciences LLC, in South San Francisco, California.
- John B. Hernandez is a research scientist at Google Health, in Mountain View, California.
- Hanke Heun-Johnson is a research associate at the Schaeffer Center, USC.
- Henu Zhao is a senior quantitative analyst at the Schaeffer Center, USC.
- Dana P. Goldman is the Leonard D. Schaeffer Chair and Distinguished Professor of Public Policy, Pharmacy, and Economics in the Sol Price School of Public Policy and School of Pharmacy, USC.
Abstract
Serious mental illness (SMI) is a disabling condition that develops early in life and imposes substantial economic burden. There is a growing belief that early intervention for SMI has lifelong benefits for patients. However, assessing the cost-effectiveness of early intervention efforts is hampered by a lack of evidence on the long-term benefits. We addressed this by using a dynamic microsimulation model to estimate the lifetime burden of SMI for those diagnosed by age twenty-five. We estimated that the per patient lifetime burden of SMI is $1.85 million. We also found that a policy intervention focused on improving the educational attainment of people with SMI reduces the average per person burden of SMI by $73,600 (4.0 percent)—a change driven primarily by higher lifetime earnings—or over $8.9 billion in reduced burden per cohort of SMI patients. These findings provide a benchmark for the potential value of improving educational attainment for people with SMI.
