Rising co-payments and continuity of healthcare for Dutch patients with bipolar disorder:Retrospective longitudinal cohort study

Background The Netherlands has few financial barriers to access mental healthcare. However, in 2012, a sharp rise in co-payments was introduced. Aims We tested whether these increased co-payments coincided with less guideline-recommended continuous out-patient psychiatric care and more crisis interventions for patients with bipolar disorder. Method A retrospective longitudinal cohort study on a health insurance registry was performed to examine trends, and deviations from these trends, in the healthcare received by patients with bipolar disorder. Deviations of trends were tested by time-series... Mehr ...