Impact of Primary Care-Mental Health Care Integration on Mental Health Care Engagement Across Racial and Ethnic Groups.

OBJECTIVE: Receiving mental health services as part of primary care in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) might increase engagement in specialty mental health care. The authors reexamined the association between primary care-mental health integration (PCMHI) and continued engagement in specialty mental health care for VHA patients and assessed differences by race and ethnicity. METHODS: The study included 437,051 primary care patients with a first in-person specialty mental health encounter in 2015-2016 (no specialty mental health encounters in prior 12 months), including 46,417 patients with new PCMHI encounters in the year before the first specialty mental health encounter. Multivariable logistic regression assessed odds of follow-up specialty mental health care within 3 months of the first specialty mental health encounter. The dependent variable was care engagement (attending a second specialty mental health appointment); independent variables were whether patients were seen by PCMHI on the same day as the primary care appointment ("same-day access"), the time between PCMHI and first specialty mental health appointments, and race and ethnicity. RESULTS: PCMHI was associated with increased engagement in specialty mental health care for all patients, with a greater likelihood of engagement among non-Hispanic White patients. Same-day access to PCMHI was positively associated with care engagement, with no significant differences by race or ethnicity. PCMHI care within 3 months before a first specialty mental health encounter was associated with greater care engagement. CONCLUSIONS: PCMHI, especially same-day access to PCMHI care, may boost engagement in mental health care, although the study design precluded conclusions regarding causal relationships.

Achieving same-day access in integrated primary care.

Same-day access to behavioral health services is a critical feature of integrated primary care. Despite the benefits of same-day access, implementing and sustaining this key feature has been a challenge for multiple health care settings. Further, there is relatively little practical guidance on how to implement this practice management feature. Diverse program design solutions for same-day access are implemented in clinics across the Veterans Health Administration. The authors identified innovative approaches, developed in local facilities, with demonstrated success in same-day access that can be implemented in any setting. The purpose of this article is to describe five approaches for providing same-day access within integrated care. The authors discuss key considerations (staffing, space, program maturity), potential challenges and facilitators, and provide practical recommendations for implementation. (PsycINFO Database Record

Treating PTSD in primary care: One small step is one giant leap.

Comments on an article by J. A. Cigrang et al. (see record 2017-56601-006). At first glance, the article by Cigrang et al. is another in a long line of randomized clinical trials of psychotherapy for a common condition. Under closer scrutiny, however, it is a groundbreaking study that challenges many commonly held beliefs about effective interventions for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Cigrang et al. have begun to change the status quo with this study within the DoD. The same protocol is now in the early stages of implementation as a pilot in the VA's Patient Aligned Care Team (VA equivalent of the Patient Centered Medical Home). In addition to treating PTSD, cognitive processing therapy (CPT) and prolonged exposure may provide relief for individuals suffering from symptoms significant enough to cause distress but not rising to the level of precision needed for a diagnosis of PTSD: the bread and butter of integrated primary care. Although a significant step forward, the study by Cigrant et al. is only a beginning. There is obviously a need for replication and possible enhancements of this exposure treatment. There are other condensed versions of CPT being developed and tested as well. Many questions remain. (PsycINFO Database Record

Capturing Psychologists' Work in Integrated Care: Measuring and Documenting Administrative Outcomes.

With the expansion of integrated primary care and the increased focus on fiscal sustainability, it is critical for clinical managers of these innovative systems to have practical methods for measuring administrative outcomes. Administrative outcomes will assist leadership in the development of efficient, streamlined clinics to provide services to the primary care population. Additionally, administrative measures can be utilized to provide information to assist in guiding resource utilization and management decisions. Several administrative outcomes are suggested for integrated primary care managers to consider for application, including: clinic utilization measures, integrated care administrative measures, wait time and access metrics, and productivity monitors. Effective utilization of these measures can help office managers and clinic leadership not only to maximize patient care, but also to enhance essential business operations, which increase the long-term sustainability of integrated primary care programs.

Listening to the voice of the patient.

Comments on the article by T. J. Waltz et al. (see record 2014-31795-001). The article used population based screening to identify patients with depressive illness. An important feature of this article is that it addresses the needs of the patient, not the organization of the care system. It points us to patient perspectives and choices more than practice or system level offerings. This article should remind us that patient satisfaction and patient preferences are every bit as important, if not more so, to achieving good clinical outcomes as selection of the proper treatment (Swift, Callahan, & Vollmer, 2011).

Mental health services in the medical home in the Department of Veterans Affairs: factors for successful integration.

Since the early 1990s, primary care has been described as the de facto mental health care system in the United States. Most individuals with mental health concerns present in primary care, but the majority are either not identified or do not receive evidence-based services or guideline concordant care. Despite 20 years of research supporting the integration of mental health services into primary care, the translation of this evidence into real-world settings remains limited. The growing impetus to build comprehensive health care systems that provide care for a defined population has recently spurred interest in providing mental health care within primary care. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) began to systematically incorporate psychological and other mental health services into primary care in 2007. National evaluation and local program data reviewed here have demonstrated that the initiative has already improved the identification and treatment of mental health disorders in the primary care population, increased the likelihood of receiving guideline concordant care, and enhanced treatment engagement for patients referred into specialty mental health services. These results provide support for expectations that integrated care enhances access to high-quality mental health care. This article summarizes critical factors for success identified in the VA integrated care rollout. These factors are applicable for other health care organizations that seek to improve mental health services delivery.

Applying the interprofessional patient aligned care team in the Department of Veterans Affairs: Transforming primary care.

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest integrated health care system in the United States, serving more than 8 million veterans. VHA is currently undergoing extensive changes to its health care delivery model, moving toward the full implementation of the patient-centered medical home. Mental health providers, including psychologists working in primary care, are playing key roles in this transformation to interprofessional teams and systems-as clinicians, researchers, program evaluators, and educators. Moreover, VHA mental health staff serves critical leadership functions supporting primary care in the broad transformation that is required to implement the medical home. In this article, we review the implementation of mental health integration into this new model of care.

Use of discrete event simulation to improve a mental health clinic.

OBJECTIVE: To improve clinic design, trial-and-error is commonly used to discover strategies that lead to improvement. Our goal was to predict the effects of various changes before undertaking them. METHOD: Systems engineers collaborated with staff at an integrated primary care-mental health care clinic to create a computer simulation that mirrored how the clinic currently operates. We then simulated hypothetical changes to the staffing to understand their effects on percentage of patients seen outside scheduled clinic hours and service completion time. RESULTS: We found that, out of the change options being considered by the clinic, extending daily clinic hours by two and including an additional psychiatrist are likely to result in the greatest incremental decreases in patients seen outside clinic hours and in service time. CONCLUSION: Simulation in partnership with engineers can be an attractive tool for improving mental health clinics, particularly when changes are costly and thus trial-and-error is not desirable.

Primary care-mental health integration in healthcare in the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has been undergoing tremendous transformation in the past 15 years with regard to the delivery of health care. This special issue describes one aspect of this transformation of the largest health system in the U.S.; the system-wide efforts to integrate mental health treatment into the primary care setting in VA. This primary care-mental health integration (PC-MHI) is being accomplished through the central VA system support and implementation of three primary models developed in the field: the White River Colocated models, the Behavioral Health Laboratory, and TIDES (Translating Initiatives in Depression into Effective Solutions). The papers in this special issue describe the development of these models, local and regional efforts to prepare medical centers to adapt and implement PC-MHI, and the impact of the integration on mental health care in these settings. These efforts could represent a national model of PC-MHI implementation for health care systems throughout the U.S.

The White River model of colocated collaborative care: A platform for mental and behavioral health care in the medical home.

In the past two decades a great deal of research has demonstrated improved quality of care when mental health care is integrated into primary care. To date, most of the literature has addressed care management for specific mental illnesses. Such programs can be difficult to implement and sustain. We describe a program of "Colocated Collaborative Care," implemented in 2004 that has been sustained and grown over the 6 years since inception. The Primary Mental Health Care clinic at the White River Junction (Vermont) Veterans Affairs Medical Center offers a full spectrum of mental health care that allows 75% of referred patients to receive all of their care within the primary care clinic, thus conserving scarce specialty services for the most complex patients. The clinic is staffed by a therapist and a psychiatrist (or advanced practice nurse) and complemented by care management and health psychology. It makes use of technology to streamline assessment and track outcomes. The clinic provides a mix of care management, specialty expertise and chronic disease management. Originally developed in a capitated health care system, adherence to general principles that guided its development may be useful in any system of care.

Criminal justice involvement of armed forces veterans in two systems of care.

OBJECTIVE: This study compared criminal justice involvement of veterans before and after receiving services from community-based programs of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) (N=1,640) or a state Department of Mental Health (DMH) (N= 693). METHODS: Anonymous extracts from VHA, DMH, and statewide criminal charging databases were analyzed by probabilistic population estimation to determine criminal charging rates in the years before and after the year of service receipt in each system of care. RESULTS: Veterans who received DMH services experienced a greater reduction in the rate of criminal charging than veterans who received VHA services (43% and 17% reductions). For veterans with co-occurring mental and substance use disorders, rates were reduced 33% among VHA service recipients, whereas they increased 48% among DMH service recipients. CONCLUSIONS: These differences indicate that the design of veterans' behavioral health service delivery systems would benefit from cross-sector outcome measures that complement clinical measures such as those used nationally by the VHA.

The challenge of integrated care for mental health: leaving the 50 minute hour and other sacred things.

A growing body of research has demonstrated the effectiveness of integrating mental/behavioral healthcare with primary care in improving health outcomes. Despite this rich literature, such demonstration programs have proven difficult to maintain once research funding ends. Much of the discussion regarding maintenance of integrated care has been focused on lack of reimbursement. However, provider factors may be just as important, because integrated care systems require providers to adopt a very different role and operate very differently from traditional mental health practice. There is also great variability in definition and operationalization of integrated care. Provider concerns tend to focus on several factors, including a perceived loss of autonomy, discomfort with the hierarchical nature of medical care and primary care settings, and enduring beliefs about what constitutes "good" treatment. Providers may view integrated care models as delivering substandard care and passively or actively resist them. Dissemination of available data regarding effectiveness of these models is essential (e.g. timeliness of treatment, client satisfaction). Increasing exposure and training in these models, while maintaining the necessary training in traditional mental health care is a challenge for training at all levels, yet the challenge clearly opens new opportunities for psychology and psychiatry.