Five-Year Mental Health Care Use by Patients Referred to Collaborative Care or to Specialized Care

This study compared long-term use of mental health care by two groups of patients who had common mental disorders in the Netherlands-those treated in a collaborative care setting and those referred to off-site specialized mental health services if indicated.

The study was a retrospective analysis of use of mental health care over five years by 139 patients who participated in a cluster-randomized parent study. The parent study involved 27 general practitioners (GPs) who provided either collaborative care or usual care. In the collaborative care condition, a mental health professional worked on site at the GP's practice and was available to provide short-term treatment. In the usual-care condition, the GP referred the patient to off-site specialized mental health services if indicated; if not indicated, the GP provided usual care. The two treatment groups were compared on the number of mental health care contacts and total treatment duration, the proportion that initiated a new treatment episode after termination of the initial treatment, and time to new treatment.

Patients in the collaborative care condition received about half the number of mental health care contacts as those in the usual-care condition, and no differences were found in the rate of initiation of new treatment episodes after initial treatment, time to new treatment, and total treatment duration.

Referral of patients with common mental disorders to collaborative mental health care as a first intervention led to fewer contacts with a mental health care professional over the long term, compared with referral to specialized mental health care.