TY - JOUR
AU - M. Wittink
AU - N. Lee
AU - E. Pope-Collins
AU - K. Holderle
AU - D. Maeng
A1 - 
AB - Patients with co-occurring medical and psychiatric conditions often face fragmented care and prolonged hospitalizations in traditional medical units (MUs). Integrated medical-psychiatry units (MPUs) offer a model of concurrent care that may better meet the needs of these patients, but limited data exist on which patient populations benefit most. This study retrospectively compared outcomes for patients with psychiatric conditions discharged from an MPU versus traditional MUs within a single academic medical center between 2019 and 2023. Subgroups included patients presenting with suicidal ideation (SI) or toxic overdose (OD). Primary outcomes were length of stay (LOS) and discharge to the community. MPU patients were younger, more likely to be on Medicaid, and had significantly higher rates of psychotic, mood, substance use, and cognitive disorders (all P < 0.001). Despite this higher psychiatric complexity, MPU patients had shorter LOS and higher rates of discharge to home than their counterparts on general MUs, even after adjusting for demographic and clinical differences. Among patients with SI, those on the MPU had an average LOS of 5.5 days compared to 6.7 days in traditional units (P = 0.006). These findings highlight the effectiveness of MPUs in managing complex, high-need patients and support the broader implementation of integrated, interdisciplinary care models to improve hospital outcomes and care transitions for vulnerable populations.
AD - Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA.; Department of Family Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA.; Department of Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester New York, USA.; Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester New York, USA.
AN - 41173521
BT - Popul Health Manag
C5 - Education & Workforce
CP - 6
DA - Dec
DO - 10.1177/19427891251388072
DP - NLM
ET - 20251017
IS - 6
JF - Popul Health Manag
LA - eng
N2 - Patients with co-occurring medical and psychiatric conditions often face fragmented care and prolonged hospitalizations in traditional medical units (MUs). Integrated medical-psychiatry units (MPUs) offer a model of concurrent care that may better meet the needs of these patients, but limited data exist on which patient populations benefit most. This study retrospectively compared outcomes for patients with psychiatric conditions discharged from an MPU versus traditional MUs within a single academic medical center between 2019 and 2023. Subgroups included patients presenting with suicidal ideation (SI) or toxic overdose (OD). Primary outcomes were length of stay (LOS) and discharge to the community. MPU patients were younger, more likely to be on Medicaid, and had significantly higher rates of psychotic, mood, substance use, and cognitive disorders (all P < 0.001). Despite this higher psychiatric complexity, MPU patients had shorter LOS and higher rates of discharge to home than their counterparts on general MUs, even after adjusting for demographic and clinical differences. Among patients with SI, those on the MPU had an average LOS of 5.5 days compared to 6.7 days in traditional units (P = 0.006). These findings highlight the effectiveness of MPUs in managing complex, high-need patients and support the broader implementation of integrated, interdisciplinary care models to improve hospital outcomes and care transitions for vulnerable populations.
PY - 2025
SN - 1942-7891
SP - 281
EP - 287+
ST - Hospital Outcomes for Patients with Psychiatric Comorbidities: A Comparison of an Integrated Medical-Psychiatry Unit and Traditional Medical Units
T1 - Hospital Outcomes for Patients with Psychiatric Comorbidities: A Comparison of an Integrated Medical-Psychiatry Unit and Traditional Medical Units
T2 - Popul Health Manag
TI - Hospital Outcomes for Patients with Psychiatric Comorbidities: A Comparison of an Integrated Medical-Psychiatry Unit and Traditional Medical Units
U1 - Education & Workforce
U3 - 10.1177/19427891251388072
VL - 28
VO - 1942-7891
Y1 - 2025
ER -