Investigators at Yale University School of Public Health Detail Findings in Mental Health Diseases and Conditions (Innovations In Care Delivery for Patients With Serious Mental Illness Among Accountable Care Organizations): Mental Health Diseases and Conditions

2023 FEB 01 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators discuss new findings in Mental Health Diseases and Conditions. According to news reporting originating in New Haven, Connecticut, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “This study examined whether and how organizations participating in accountable care organization (ACO) contracts integrate primary care and treatment for patients with serious mental illness. This study used responses to the 2017-2018 National Survey of ACOs (55% response rate) to measure ACO-reported use of three integrated care strategies: care manager to address physical health treatment coordination or nonmedical needs (e.g., job support and housing), patient registries to track physical health conditions, and primary care clinician colocated in a specialty mental health setting.”

Funders for this research include NIH National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), California Health Care Foundation, Commonwealth Foundation, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Comparative Health System Performance Initiative.

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from the Yale University School of Public Health, “Logistic regressionwas used to determine associations between ACO characteristics and strategy use. Of 399 respondents who answered questions on integration, 303 (76%) reported using at least one integrated care strategy in at least one location. Use of care managers (defined by the respondent) was most common (N = 281,70%), followed by use of a patient registry (N = 146, 37%) and colocation of a primary care clinician in a specialty mental health setting (N = 118, 30%). Respondents reporting that their largest Medicaid contract or largest commercial contract included quality measures specific to serious mental illness (e.g., antipsychotic adherence) were more likely to use each integrated care delivery strategy. Self-reported use of three collaborative care strategies (care management, patient registry, or mental health consulting clinician) for treatment of depression or anxiety was associated with use of integrated primary care and treatment for serious mental illness.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “In a national survey of ACOs, few respondents reported using either patient registries or primary care colocation to integrate primary care and treatment for serious mental illness.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Innovations In Care Delivery for Patients With Serious Mental Illness Among Accountable Care Organizations. Psychiatric Services, 2022;73(8):889-896. Psychiatric Services can be contacted at: Amer Psychiatric Publishing, Inc, 800 Maine Ave SW, Suite 900, Washington, DC 20024, USA.

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Helen Newton, Yale University School of Public Health, Dept. of Health Policy and Management, New Haven, CT 06510, United States. Additional authors for this research include Susan H. Busch, Mary F. Brunette, A. James O’Malley, Donovan T. Maust and Ellen Meara.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.202000484. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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