New conceptions of care, community, and chronic mental illness.

This article reports on the author's observations as a member of the National Advisory Committee to the Robert Wood Johnson Program for the Chronically Mentally Ill (CMI). The article highlights the needs of large city mental health systems, which serve the CMI, employing the concepts of centralization and continuity, as well as financing, housing, and support services reform. The implications for psychiatric mental health nursing are discussed.