These authors assess the ability of various statistical models to predict behavioral health treatment costs in a sample of Veterans Health Administration patients from 1999 and discuss the implications of their findings. 

Montez-Rath, M., Christiansen, C. L., Ettner, S. L., Loveland, S., & Rosen, A. K. (2006). Performance of statistical models to predict mental health and substance abuse cost. BMC Medical Research and Methodology, 26(6), 53.  DOI: 10.1186/1471-2288-6-53. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2288/6/53/abstract

Authors: Maria Montez-Rath, Cindy L Christiansen, Susan L Ettner, Susan Loveland, Amy K Rosen.