Medicare pays the full cost of much in-hospital care, but beneficiaries pay at least 20 percent of the cost of outpatient services.

Often this included in-hospital care up to the maximum of the insurance policy.

Now with managed care and government regulators cracking down on in-hospital care, residents are facing a shortage of patients to practice upon.

Because Dom and his wife had both been teachers in good suburban districts, they had first-rate medical insurance that had paid for top private in-hospital care.

Despite a general focus on inpatient care, PIW does offer two outpatient programs to patients who do not qualify for in-hospital care.

But both countries have health care systems in which psychotherapy and in-hospital care are readily accessible.

Nurses these days focus as much on providing education and support for the parents at home as dealing with their in-hospital care, she said.

Dr. Sharfstein said in-hospital care now plays only a small role.

That does not begin to address the real disparities facing mental health patients, like higher co-payments and lower caps on outpatient visits or in-hospital care.

Neonatal mortality is affected by the quality of in-hospital care for the neonate.