In a health care landscape often forced to choose between quality and cost, a Canadian study offers a rare exception: a community-based youth mental health program that simultaneously improved outcomes and saved public money. ACCESS Open Minds, examined by researchers at McGill University and the Douglas Research Centre, redirected young people with serious mental health challenges away from hospitals and emergency rooms and toward community settings — generating ten dollars in savings for every dollar invested. The findings, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, suggest that the question facing
Community-based youth mental health model saves $4,355 per patient annually
The program serves youth with serious mental health challenges, reducing their reliance on institutional care and emergency services.