Gesher LaNefesh SIB

Health

Gesher LaNefesh SIB

Reducing hospitalizations for those struggling with mental illness

The Project

A Social Impact Bond with a pay-for-success model to promote community mental health, the first in Israel and the sixth globally. The goal is to develop an advanced home and community treatment service for individuals struggling with severe psychiatric disorders, which will improve and stabilize their mental and physical condition, ensure they utilize their legal rights, connect them to rehabilitation services, and reduce the length and frequency of hospitalizations in psychiatric and general wards.

The intervention program is based on the FACT principles – Flexible Assertive Community Treatment.

The Impact

Each year, over 20,000 people are hospitalized in psychiatric hospitals in Israel. 78% of them are re-admitted. This phenomenon, known as the "revolving door," points to a shortage of community mental health services. Psychiatric hospitalization disrupts psychological and functional continuity, causes detachment from the patient’s support system and familiar, intimate home environment, and is often associated with regression, dependency development ("institutionalization"), and public and self-stigma.

By shifting the focus of treatment to the community, SFI, in collaboration with Meuhedet HMO and the Sharan Company, has developed an intensive and holistic therapeutic response for the at-risk population, aimed at reducing repeat psychiatric hospitalizations.

Outcomes to Date:

52% reduction in total days of psychiatric hospitalization and number of admissions
52% reduction in general hospitalization days
31% reduction in ER visits
Increase in rights realization: the proportion of participants without access to a rehabilitation basket dropped from 48% to 14%
Improved community integration and quality of life for people coping with mental illness

Projected Financial Impact:
A net savings for the HMO of approximately 7 million NIS over a four-year measurement period, based on reductions in psychiatric hospitalization days alone.

Looking Ahead

This model created measurable social impact, enabled patient-centered, tailored and flexible evidence-based case management, promoted best practices for Meuhedet's members, and scaled nationally.

Partners

Meuhedet HMO and the Sharan Company. The project was made possible thanks to the generous donation from the estate of the late Bruno Landsberg.

Status

The intervention program has ended. Measurement will continue until 2027.

Service

Pay for Success Products

"We gave them hope, the promise of tomorrow. For people who succeed at an older age in making such a profound change in their lifestyle, it’s nothing short of a miracle in the world of psychiatry"

Dr. Mihael Bazhmin, MD, MHA | Head of Psychiatry Department, Sharan