Primary care and the de facto mental health care system: improving care where it counts

Only 28% of individuals suffering from psychiatric disorders seek care from mental health specialists. In this paper, the authors describe how the de facto PCP mental health care system gained ground when it seemed the financing and organizational structure of managed care would have predicted the opposite result. They argue that the new realities of mental health practice require new approaches to improving behavioral health treatment. These approaches, they believe, will maximize the benefit of care delivered in and accessed through the primary care office.