TY - JOUR
T1 - Social costs of expanding access to evidence-based supported employment
T2 - Concepts and interpretive review of evidence
AU - Salkever, David
PY - 2013/2/1
Y1 - 2013/2/1
N2 - A recent policy analysis argued that expanding access to evidence-based supported employment can provide savings in major components of social costs. This article extends the scope of this policy analysis by placing the argument within a recently developed economic framework for social cost-effectiveness analysis that defines a program's social cost impact as its effect on net consumption of all goods and services. A total of 27 studies over the past two decades are reviewed to synthesize evidence of the social cost impacts of expanding access to the individual placement and supportmodel of supported employment (IPS-SE). Most studies have focused primarily on agency costs of providing IPS-SE services, cost offsets when clients shift from "traditional" rehabilitation to IPS-SE, and impacts on clients' earnings. Because costs and cost offsets are similar in magnitude, incremental costs of expanding services to persons who would otherwise receive traditional services are probably small or even negative. The population served by an expansion could be sizable, but the feasibility of a policy targeting IPS-SE expansion in this way has yet to be demonstrated. IPS-SE has positive impacts on competitive job earnings, but these may not fully translate into social cost offsets. Additional empirical support is needed for the argument that large-scale expansion would yield substantial mental health treatment cost offsets. Other gaps in evidence of policy impacts include take-up rate estimates, cost impact estimates from longer-term studies (exceeding two years), and longerterm studies of whether IPS-SE prevents younger clients from becoming recipients of Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability Insurance.
AB - A recent policy analysis argued that expanding access to evidence-based supported employment can provide savings in major components of social costs. This article extends the scope of this policy analysis by placing the argument within a recently developed economic framework for social cost-effectiveness analysis that defines a program's social cost impact as its effect on net consumption of all goods and services. A total of 27 studies over the past two decades are reviewed to synthesize evidence of the social cost impacts of expanding access to the individual placement and supportmodel of supported employment (IPS-SE). Most studies have focused primarily on agency costs of providing IPS-SE services, cost offsets when clients shift from "traditional" rehabilitation to IPS-SE, and impacts on clients' earnings. Because costs and cost offsets are similar in magnitude, incremental costs of expanding services to persons who would otherwise receive traditional services are probably small or even negative. The population served by an expansion could be sizable, but the feasibility of a policy targeting IPS-SE expansion in this way has yet to be demonstrated. IPS-SE has positive impacts on competitive job earnings, but these may not fully translate into social cost offsets. Additional empirical support is needed for the argument that large-scale expansion would yield substantial mental health treatment cost offsets. Other gaps in evidence of policy impacts include take-up rate estimates, cost impact estimates from longer-term studies (exceeding two years), and longerterm studies of whether IPS-SE prevents younger clients from becoming recipients of Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability Insurance.
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U2 - 10.1176/appi.ps.201100499
DO - 10.1176/appi.ps.201100499
M3 - Review article
C2 - 23117344
AN - SCOPUS:84880153560
VL - 64
SP - 111
EP - 119
JO - Hospital and Community Psychiatry
JF - Hospital and Community Psychiatry
SN - 1075-2730
IS - 2
ER -