Harris County Hospital District

Integration of Community Psychiatry into Primary Care Centers
 
Limited mental health resources resulted in lack of access to care for patients with behavioral health issues in Harris County, Texas. This problem was further complicated by reduced numbers of inpatient beds, overcrowded emergency departments, and growing numbers of uninsured. The arrival of Hurricane Katrina and Rita victims underscored the challenges.

To address these issues, Harris County Hospital District (HCHD), Baylor College of Medicine and University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston collaborated and launched a project to integrate behavioral health services into the daily patient care process at all HCHD community health centers, school-based clinics, the homeless health care program and several Federally Qualified Health Centers called the Community Behavioral Health Program (CBHP).

The goals of the CBHP is to provide behavioral health services to more patients, shorten waiting times for new appointments and reduce transfers for hospital services by placing behavioral health staff in community health centers. CBHP’s services include evaluation and treatment of scheduled patients, walk-in services for patients in crisis, and curbside consultations to primary care physicians in order to support behavioral health interventions implemented by primary care physicians.

CBHP has set an example for every community in the nation facing this health crisis. By integrating psychiatric care with primary care, they have expanded capacity to address severe shortages in services, reduced initial wait times by 86 percent, helped patients stay out of hospitals, reduced admissions to the psychiatric emergency center by 18 percent, and improved the lives of persons with mental illness.


For more information about this program, please contact:

Ann Teske, MS, RN
Director of Community Case Management
lenore_teske@hchd.tmc.edu