Name
F11 - We're Not Just in Primary Care Anymore: Advancing Mental Health Integration into Specialty Medicine
Description

Veterans with certain medical conditions (e.g., chronic pain, cancer) are at higher risk for suicidal ideation and may have mental health comorbidities but are not actively engaged in mental health services. This presentation will describe an innovative five-year demonstration project implementing embedded behavioral health consultants in select VHA specialty medicine settings, focused on offering same day access to mental and behavioral health care, engaging more Veterans at the right time and in the right place to advance whole person focused integrated healthcare. Preliminary qualitative and quantitative data from the first year of program implementation will be shared, including discussion of enablers and barriers to integration and attention to observed differences by specialty medicine clinic setting. Appropriate for frontline staff, champions, and leaders, this content seeks to aide attendees in their own planning efforts to expand integrated care beyond the primary care setting.

Date & Time
Friday, October 25, 2024, 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Christina Shook Rachel Allen
Co-Authors
Jennifer Patterson, PhD, ABPP, National Director of Integrated Services, Veterans Health Administration (Jennifer.Patterson@va.gov)
Content Level
Intermediate
Tags
Innovations, Medical, Primary Care Behavioral Health Model
Session Type
Concurrent
SIG or Committee
PCBH, Medical
Location Name
Presidio C
Objective 1
Explain the need for and anticipated benefits of integration of behavioral health services into specialty medical settings.
Objective 2
List the barriers and enablers to implementation of brief behavioral health services in VHA pain and oncology clinics.
Objective 3
Describe use of the Level of Integration Measure (LIM) in assessing and guiding implementation efforts.
Content Reference 1

Johnson, C. C., K. M. Phillips, and S. N. Miller. 2019. Suicidal ideation among veterans living with cancer referred to mental health. Clinical Gerontologist 43, no. 1:24-36. https://doi.org/10.1080/07317115.2019.1686719.

Content Reference 2

Munson, S. O., P. Cabrera-Sanchez, S. N. Miller, and K. M. Phillips. 2020. Distress and factors associated with suicidal ideation in veterans living with cancer. Federal Practitioner: For the Health Care Professionals of the VA, DoD, and PHS 37, Suppl. 2:S8–S15.

Content Reference 3

Boska, R.L., T.M. Bishop, and L. Ashrafioun. 2021. Pain conditions and suicide attempts in military veterans: A case-control design. Pain Medicine, 22, no.12:2846-2850. https://doi.org/10.1093/pm/pnab287

Content Reference 4

Ashrafioun, L., T. M. Bishop, and W.R. Pigeon. 2021. The relationship between pain severity, insomnia, and suicide attempts among a national veteran sample initiating pain care. Psychosom Med, 83, no. 8:733-738. https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000000975.