title: Applying the interprofessional patient aligned care team in the Department of Veterans Affairs: Transforming primary care.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Office of Mental Health Operations, Veterans Health Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs.
authors.forename: Lisa K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Kearney
authors.affiliation: Primary Care, Veterans Health Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs.
authors.forename: Edward P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Post
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Services, Veterans Health Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs.
authors.forename: Andrew S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Pomerantz
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Services, Veterans Health Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs.
authors.forename: Antonette M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Zeiss
mesh_terms: D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs / Q000458:organization & administration*