Exploring Predictors of Treatment Engagement in Urban Integrated Primary Care

Integrated primary care (IPC) is intended to address the gap in access to behavioral health care. This may be particularly true in urban settings; however, there is a paucity of research on treatment engagement in urban IPC. This study explored factors associated with treatment engagement.

Data were collected via retrospective chart review for 410 patients of diverse backgrounds who received an IPC referral in an urban primary care site. Patient-related factors included having multiple types of referral concerns, patient primary care show rate, and number of visits with referring clinician. Service-related factors included referral type (warm handoff/ electronic), number of days between referral and intake, and average number of days between IPC treatment sessions. Engagement outcomes included attendance at IPC intake, total IPC sessions attended, overall IPC show rate, and IPC treatment attrition.

Of referred patients, 348 (84.9%) were encouraged to or scheduled an intake. Of those, 289 (83.1%) scheduled and 57.2% attended; the average number of sessions attended was 1.73. Patients who had more primary care office visits and higher primary care show rates were more likely to attend an IPC intake. Shorter average duration between follow-up sessions was associated with higher overall IPC show rates for those who initiated IPC follow-up care.

Supporting engagement in primary care broadly and building scheduling capacity for IPC treatment may increase IPC service engagement in an urban primary care context.