Integrated Healthcare

Integrating Mental Health and Primary Care Services

Integrated healthcare is a system of care where physical and mental health needs are treated simultaneously. For people with mental illness, this is especially important. Studies have shown that people who have serious mental health conditions die 25 years earlier than people who don’t. This is largely due to untreated physical health conditions, such as heart attacks or diabetes, and limited access to medical care.

We believe that the most effective approach to help solve this problem is to create medical homes within our community of mental health clinics where people can receive treatment for their behavioral health disorders and physical ailments. Because our clinics are generally familiar to them, individuals are more likely to accept and stay connected with physical healthcare delivered in these locations. This allows their care teams to identify potential problems early, to promote preventive activities like tobacco cessation, to coordinate medications and treatment, and to avoid unnecessary and costly emergency room visits and inpatient stays.

No one—regardless of insurance status or ability to pay—goes without care

Currently, two pilot projects are providing primary care and wellness activities for consumers at the Mental Health Center of Denver: the PRICARe project for Medicaid recipients, funded by the Colorado Health Foundation, and the federally-funded Integrated Primary Care and Wellness project for uninsured individuals. To date, we’ve already provided 934 adult consumers with integrated healthcare at our three clinics.

We want assure that adult consumers in Denver with serious mental illnesses have a regular medical home that integrates their care. We offer them a range of choices for integrated healthcare:

• For those already connected with a medical home in the Denver community, we actively coordinate care with their primary care providers.
• For those who currently do not have a regular source of primary care, and who choose to receive care from a primary care provider in the community, we proactively work to link them with an appropriate medical home.
• For consumers who currently do not have a regular source of primary care, and prefer to receive their physical healthcare at the same location where they receive their behavioral health services, we assume the role of medical home through primary care providers co-located in our Recovery Center.

On the Forefront of Integrating Physical and Behavioral Healthcare

We’ve have made a commitment to improving access to high quality healthcare for people with mental illness by embedding physical healthcare within our services. An entire wing of our new Recovery Center, including five exam rooms and two treatment rooms, is dedicated to primary care. One of our major objectives in building this new center was to configure spacious clinical workplaces with state-of-the-art medical technology, allowing us to realize our vision for integrated healthcare for some of Denver’s most vulnerable citizens.

Integrated Preventative Healthcare for Denver’s Kids

We offer children access to integrated healthcare through three community partnerships. Our therapists and a child psychiatrist are available to pediatricians at three community health clinics to help assess possible mental health issues, provide short-term therapy, and work jointly to observe and diagnose.

Denver’s kids are offered integrated care though our partnerships with:

• Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics: Since 1996, Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics have provided medical, dental and mental health services to the children of Colorado, regardless of their insurance status or family’s ability to pay. We would not be able to provide these services without the generosity of individuals and businesses in our communities.
• Denver Health’s Montbello Clinic: This clinic serves patients in the northeast Denver neighborhoods.
• Denver Health’s Eastside Clinic: This clinic serves patients in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood.