Hiring mental health professionals: Evidence from a large-scale policy in Brazil

Abstract

This paper evaluates the impact of a policy that promoted the hiring of mental health professionals in public healthcare services in Brazil by exploiting the staggered adoption of the program across municipalities. We find large positive effects on the employment of non-medical health professionals in healthcare facilities and on their production outputs, along with smaller effects on psychiatrist employment and dispensation of drugs. Lower scarcity of non-medical health professionals in the local labor market was associated with greater hiring effects, while substitution of incumbent workers and spillovers across health facilities, sectors and regions did not play any significant role. Despite hiring efforts, however, no significant impact is observed on related mortality, hospitalizations, or sick leave days. Results suggest an increased availability of employed skilled professionals might not be enough to curb more extreme adverse health outcomes.