How to Transition Patients Back From Psychiatric Care to Primary Care: An Access Initiative Protocol Development

This column describes the initial steps to develop a bidirectional access initiative between outpatient psychiatric and primary care clinics within an academic medical center. The authors analyzed electronic health record data (N=2,837 patients), interviewed psychiatric and primary care providers, assembled a work group, and identified five patient tracks (treatment optimization, psychiatric continuity, specialty clinic, psychotherapy, and community referral). Over 16 months, the number of patients scheduled for new psychiatric diagnostic evaluations with medical services increased from 62.5 to 116.0 per month without significant change in the no-show rate for evaluations within the psychiatric outpatient clinic.