Psychiatric Triage: a Cost-Effective Approach to Quality Management in Mental Health

A task force developed a pilot project for psychiatric triage in an emergency department (ED). The project was developed to address problems in the ED treatment of patients with psychiatric problems, inadequate documentation, inappropriate placement to the Crisis Intervention Unit & increasing third party payer denials. The results from the program showed improved quality of care to patients with psychiatric problems while insurance denials decreased. (7 refs)