Models to Improve Health and Health Care for People with Serious Mental Illness
Model | Description | Limitations | Setting | Clinician Involvement |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dually trained physicians48,49,57 | Physician trained in both psychiatric and physical medicine manages all care | Few available, may not maintain sufficient skills for complex medical care, may not be optimal use of resources | High concentration of medical comorbidity, eg, inpatient and chemical-dependency treatment centers | High |
Physical medicine on-site consultation41,50 | Physical medicine clinician provides consultation and care within psychiatric clinic or inpatient setting | Expensive unless volume is sufficient to fill consultant's schedule | Concentrated medical comorbidity, eg, inpatient and addiction centers or as outreach model for large clinics managing many SMI patients seen in limited number of psychiatric clinics | High |
Collaborative care45,51,52 | Frequent communication between mental and physical health care teams | Requires un-reimbursed communication time, added attention to HIPAA compliance, and supportive communication infrastructure (eg, secure e-mail, telephone access, medical record access) | Financially and administratively integrated systems with shared medical records, eg, HMOs and VA, co-located clinics | Intermediate |
Case manager53,54 | Often a registered nurse who coordinates transportation and appointments, monitors health status and treatment adherence | Time intensive for nurse, potentially expensive | Any setting with sufficient volume of patients | Low |
Facilitated referral to primary care55,56 | Psychiatric care team facilitates access to primary care team | Requires sufficient primary care access in community | Private clinics, geographically dispersed practice locations | Intermediate |
SMI, serious mental illness; HIPAA, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act; HMO, health maintenance organization; VA, Veteran's Association.
Adapted and expanded from framework of Druss and Bower.50,58