title: Preliminary outcomes from an integrated mental health primary care team.
abstract: The effects of establishing a multidisciplinary mental health primary care team in a Veterans Affairs internal medicine primary care clinic were evaluated. The multidisciplinary team worked in collaboration with primary care providers to evaluate and treat their patients, who had a wide variety of psychiatric disorders, in the primary care clinic. In the first year of operation preliminary outcomes indicated that the rate of referrals to specialty mental health care dropped from 38 percent to 14 percent. The mean number of appointments with the team for evaluation and stabilization was 2.5. These outcomes suggest that a multidisciplinary mental health primary care team can rapidly evaluate and stabilize patients with a wide range of psychiatric disorders, reduce the number of referrals to specialty mental health care, and improve collaborative care.
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Division of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Seattle, Washington 98108-1597, USA. bradford.felker@med.va.gov
authors.forename: Bradford L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Felker
authors.forename: Robert F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.forename: Diane M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Greenberg
authors.forename: Edmund F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Chaney
authors.forename: Molly M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Shores
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gillespie-Gateley
authors.forename: M Katherine
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Buike
authors.forename: Christine E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Morton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration*; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs; D000078329:Workforce