title: Behavioral Health Homes: an opportunity to address healthcare inequities in people with serious mental illness.
abstract: People with serious mental illness (SMI) face striking reductions in lifespan versus the general population, in part due to the inadequacy of healthcare systems in meeting the substantial physical health needs of this group. Integrated care, the strategic combination and coordination of behavioral health and primary care services, has been proposed as a potential healthcare service delivery solution to address these care gaps. Inspired by the primary care Patient-Centered Medical Home concept, Behavioral Health Homes bring primary care services into the community mental health center in various ways. In this paper the authors review the literature describing Behavioral Health Home interventions and highlight an integration project that provides co-located and coordinated primary care and wellness services in a community mental health center. Such approaches hold great promise for improving the health and healthcare of people with SMI.
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Boston, MA, USA; Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: mark.viron@state.ma.us.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Viron
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Longwood Psychiatry Residency Training Program, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zioto
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Longwood Psychiatry Residency Training Program, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schweitzer
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Gail
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Levine
mesh_terms: D003155:Community Mental Health Centers; D003156:Community Mental Health Services; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D018802:Patient-Centered Care
keywords: Behavioral Health Homes; Integrated care; Medical homes; Medical morbidity and mortality; Serious mental illness