This article examines the effects of economic policy on the provision of psychiatric hospital care.  The authors discuss the shift from long-stay public hospitals to private acute care and the cost shifting from states to federal and private payers through managed care.  The authors note that the result has been a shortage of psychiatric beds but also a better continuum of care, increased specialization within hospital psychiatry units, and an increased emphasis on patient choice and recovery.  

Sharfstein, S. S. and Dickerson, F. B. (2009). Hospital psychiatry for the twenty-first century. Health Affairs, 28(3): 685-8. DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.28.3.685 http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/28/3/685 

Authors: Steven S. Sharfstein and Faith B. Dickerson