How Do Mental Health Treatment Delays Impact Long-Term Mortality?
研究心理健康治疗等待时间对退伍军人死亡率的影响，发现等待时间每增加11.7天，两年死亡率上升约1.5%。
With a growing mental health crisis and a shortage of behavioral health specialists, those seeking mental health treatment often face long wait times to obtain care. I study how clinic congestion affects mortality for veterans experiencing mental health emergencies. I find that longer waiting times make it more likely that patients miss their follow-up mental health visit, consequently increasing the probability that they permanently disengage from care. A 1 standard deviation increase in wait time between the emergency department visit and follow-up appointment date (11.7 days) increases two-year mortality by about 1.5 percent.