Rising co-payments coincide with unwanted effects on continuity of healthcare for patients with schizophrenia in the Netherlands.

Background Co-payments, used to control rising costs of healthcare, may lead to disruption of appropriate outpatient care and to increases in acute crisis treatment or hospital admission in patients with schizophrenia. An abrupt rise in co-payments in 2012 in the Netherlands offered a natural experiment to study the effects of co-payments on continuity of healthcare in schizophrenia. Methods Retrospective longitudinal registry-based cohort study. Outcome measures were (i) continuity of elective (planned) psychiatric care (outpatient care and/or antipsychotic medication); (ii) acute psychiatric... Mehr ...