Integrated primary and mental health care services: an evolving partnership model

Persons with serious psychiatric disabilities experience high rates of medical co-morbidities that, if properly treated, could improve overall well-being and the course of recovery.

This brief reports describes how two organizations-Thresholds Psychiatric Rehabilitation Centers and University of Illinois College of Nursing-partnered to offer integrated behavioral and physical health care responsive to the needs of the population and committed to consumer-centered, holistic and preventative care. Most recently, the partnership offers primary care in different community settings through different service models-tele-monitoring, home visits, group visits.

A combination of published literature, staff report, and quality assurance data informs this report.

The authors conclude that primary care outreach is a promising strategy in mental health settings and that the Chronic Care Model (CCM) provides a set of guidelines for designing and monitoring quality integrated care for a partnership model of integrated care.