The value of hospital-based treatment for the homeless mentally ill.

The access of the homeless mentally ill to the benefits of psychiatric hospitalization has been excessively limited by deinstitutionalization, the devaluation of the benefits of inpatient evaluation and treatment, a shortage of public-sector psychiatric beds, and a tendency to regard the homeless mentally ill as untreatable. A pilot program was devised to increase the access of the homeless mentally ill to short-term hospital-based treatment within a public mental health system in which beds are in short supply. The program's usefulness demonstrates the value of hospital-based treatment for this population and suggests that hospital-based treatment is currently underutilized.