Integrated primary and community mental health care for young adults with serious mental illness: A program evaluation

Abstract

AimYoung adults with serious mental illness (SMI) have poor physical health and high Emergency Department (ED) and hospital utilization. Integrating primary care into community mental health care may be an important form of early intervention.MethodsAdjusted multivariable regressions assessed changes in self‐reported annual primary care, ED and hospital utilization for 83 young adults with SMI enrolled in integrated care.ResultsParticipants' mean annual per person utilization changed significantly as follows: primary care visits, from 1.8 to 3.6, p < .001; medical ED visits, from 1.0 to 0.6, p < .01; psychiatric ED visits from 0.6 to 0.2, p < .001; medical inpatient days, from 1.2 to 0.1, p < .001 and psychiatric inpatient days, from 6.3 to 2.6, p < .001.ConclusionsYoung adults with SMI receiving integrated care increased primary care and reduced ED and inpatient utilization. Future controlled research is warranted to further assess integrated care for young adults with SMI.