title: Wait time impact of co-located primary care mental health services: the effect of adding collaborative care in northern Ontario.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In the shared care model, psychiatrists and physicians work in the same office areas, write their notes in the same casebooks, and can more rapidly exchange information about referrals and health conditions of their patients. We evaluated the impact of the introduction of a shared mental health care service, co-located with a primary care site, on wait times for mental health services in a northern Ontario city.
  
  
  METHODS
  Chart reviews were conducted to examine a total of 3589 referrals for 5 mental health outpatient services (1 shared care and 4 existing services) from January 2001 to the end of June 2004. The shared mental health care service site was started in July 2001. Wait time was measured 6 months prior to and up to 3 years after the introduction of the shared care service.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The shared care site offered services more than 40 days sooner and also helped to reduce wait time on the nonshared care sites. After shared care began, the pre-existing, nonshared care services had wait times of about 13 days shorter during the 3 subsequent years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The shared care service maintained the lowest overall wait times, compared with the existing nonshared care services. The existing services experienced a decrease in the number of days waiting when the baseline wait time was compared with that of the following year.
authors.affiliation: Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Thunder Bay, Ontario. haggartyj@tbh.net
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Haggarty
authors.forename: Janelle A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Jarva
authors.forename: Zack
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cernovsky
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Karioja
authors.forename: Lynn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Martin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009864:Ontario; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014850:Waiting Lists