Abstract
This paper describes the status of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Primary Care-Mental Health Integration (PC-MHI)
services implementation and presents an assessment of associations between receipt of PC-MHI services and likelihood of receiving
a second specialty mental health (SMH) appointment following an initial SMH encounter. The total PC-MHI service recipients
and encounters/month rose substantially between October 2007 and April 2011. Adjusting for important covariates, the likelihood
of receiving a second SMH encounter within 3 months of an index SMH appointment was 1.37 times greater among individuals who
had received a PC-MHI encounter within 3 months of the initial SMH appointment. Implementation of VHA PC-MHI services has
substantially increased VHA capacity to deliver mental health services in primary care and findings indicate that PC-MHI services
are associated with greater engagement in SMH treatment. Implementation of VHA PC-MHI services is progressing with new technical
assistance strategies being deployed.
services implementation and presents an assessment of associations between receipt of PC-MHI services and likelihood of receiving
a second specialty mental health (SMH) appointment following an initial SMH encounter. The total PC-MHI service recipients
and encounters/month rose substantially between October 2007 and April 2011. Adjusting for important covariates, the likelihood
of receiving a second SMH encounter within 3 months of an index SMH appointment was 1.37 times greater among individuals who
had received a PC-MHI encounter within 3 months of the initial SMH appointment. Implementation of VHA PC-MHI services has
substantially increased VHA capacity to deliver mental health services in primary care and findings indicate that PC-MHI services
are associated with greater engagement in SMH treatment. Implementation of VHA PC-MHI services is progressing with new technical
assistance strategies being deployed.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Pages 1-12
- DOI 10.1007/s10880-011-9285-9
- Authors
- Laura O. Wray, Department of Veterans Affairs, Center for Integrated Healthcare, VAWNYHS (116 N), 3495 Bailey Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14215, USA
- Benjamin R. Szymanski, Department of Veterans Affairs, National Primary Care-Mental Health Integration Evaluation, Office of Mental Health Operations, Serious Mental Illness Treatment Resource and Evaluation Center, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
- Lisa K. Kearney, Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Mental Health Operations, Washington, DC, USA
- John F. McCarthy, Department of Veterans Affairs, National Primary Care-Mental Health Integration Evaluation, Office of Mental Health Operations, Serious Mental Illness Treatment Resource and Evaluation Center, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
- Journal Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings
- Online ISSN 1573-3572
- Print ISSN 1068-9583