ABSTRACT
Veterans with serious mental illness constitute a significant portion of the patients served by VA and they are a significant portion of the seriously mentally ill in the nation. Data derived from the 1989 National Health Interview Survey indicate that 405,000-630,000 veterans are accounted to be seriously mentally ill: 14 percent of the total adult seriously mentally ill population in the nation (Rosenheck, 1995). Veterans with mental disorders represent 26.5 percent of all veterans eligible for VA care. While only 10 percent of all veterans use VA health care services annually, 40 percent of seriously mentally ill veterans use VA care.
