1. Primary care and the de facto mental health care system: improving care where it counts.
- Author
-
Gray GV, Brody DS, and Hart MT
- Subjects
- Contract Services, Health Care Rationing, Humans, Managed Care Programs, Mental Disorders drug therapy, Mental Disorders therapy, Mental Health Services economics, Mental Health Services trends, Primary Health Care economics, Psychotherapy economics, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors therapeutic use, United States, Disease Management, Mental Health Services standards, Organizational Innovation, Primary Health Care standards, Quality Assurance, Health Care
- Abstract
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.
- Published
- 2000