Health Care : Current Reviews

Mental Health Care Integration and Primary Care Patients in Health care Administration

Danielle Leung^* Department of Internal Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA
^*Correspondence: Danielle Leung, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA, Email:

Received: 04-Jul-2022, Manuscript No. HCCR-22-17868; Editor assigned: 07-Jul-2022, Pre QC No. HCCR-22-17868(PQ); Reviewed: 21-Jul-2022, QC No. HCCR-22-17868; Revised: 28-Jul-2022, Manuscript No. HCCR-22-17868(R); Published: 05-Aug-2022, DOI: 10.35248/2375-4273.22.10.302

Description

Patient-centered medical homes, a framework for patient care that strives to co-locate and coordinate patient specialty treatment (for example, social work, pharmacy), have been implemented by health care systems all over the world. Every health care system has its own unique definitions and methods for putting them into practice, but the fundamental ideas are the same. Medical homes highlight the integration of mental or behavioral health therapy and are team-based, patient-centered, committed to quality improvement and they offer coordinated care and better access to care. The management of conditions and one's health are both significantly harmed by having both physical and mental health comorbidities. The majority of the premature mortality linked with mental health comorbidities has been attributed to poorly manage physical health issues. This association has been found to be between 10 and 20 years. Primary care interacts closely with the other mental health care platforms of self-care, informal health care and specialized mental health care. It is the platform for initial and on-going health care services.

The main benefits of providing mental health care through primary care include eliminating health inequities and guaranteeing continuity of care for this group. It is also accessible, affordable and acceptable to people with mental health disorders and their families. The majority of persons who experience mental health issues seek out primary care, where their conditions are more likely to be recognized and treated effectively with less danger of stigma. The many people who have co-occurring physical and mental health issues benefit from comprehensive, coordinated and person-cantered care that is promoted by mental health integration in primary care.

Additionally, there is a persistent stigma associated with mental health issues that deters some patients from seeking assistance as well as certain professionals and other caregivers from getting involved. Lessening the stigma can be aided by education and personal experience. A nationwide initiative called Mental Health.

First Aid teaches professionals, educational institutions, members of emergency personnel and laypeople how to react if someone has a panic attack, a psychotic episode or otherwise seems despondent or suicidal. Additionally, integration calls for changes in workflow for both primary care and behavioral health professionals. Due to time constraints and competing priorities, primary care doctors frequently prefer to refer patients who have mental health or substance abuse issues to specialists, while behavioral health professionals may be reluctant to work in primary care settings because it requires a different skill set. Comorbidity costs the health systems money as well. Medicare patients with comorbidities incur costs that are 65% greater than those of individuals without comorbidities. It has been discovered that who are at a high risk of being hospitalized.

There are several benefits to our existing system from changing the mental healthcare mindset to one of prevention. There are a number of policy barriers that need to be taken into account in order to make these improvements a reality.

Because of this, many health systems work to provide integrated mental health treatment that is based on evidence-based collaborative care and incorporates mental health case managers and consultant psychiatrists into primary care settings. A growing body of research indicates that integrated mental health services can improve the management of physical health disorders like diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In practical settings, only a small number of studies have been able to measure the impact of integrated mental health care on physical health outcomes. A Randomized Controlled Trail (RCT) of collaborative care management for depression and diabetes in clinics in one health system revealed significant drops in hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) as well as improvements in depressive symptoms, cholesterol, blood pressure and quality of life.