Effects of Virtual Care and Same-Day Access to Integrated Care on Specialty Mental Health Engagement in the Veterans Health Administration.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In the Veterans Health Administration (VA), Primary Care-Mental Health Integration (PC-MHI) clinics offer mental health services embedded in primary care, a strategy shown to reduce overall specialty mental health clinic burden while facilitating prompt referrals when indicated. Among newly initiated patients, same-day access to PC-MHI from primary care increases subsequent specialty mental health engagement. However, the impact of virtual care on the association between same-day access to PC-MHI and subsequent mental health engagement remains unclear.

Objective

To examine the effects of same-day access to PC-MHI and virtual care use on specialty mental health engagement.

Methods

We used administrative data from 3066 veterans who initiated mental health car

SUBMITTER: Haderlein TP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10009030 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan-Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature