Behavioral Health and Care for Chronic Medical Conditions in Pennsylvania: The Role of the Medical Home (2012)

Principal Investigator: Karin Rhodes, MD, MS, Northwell Health

This project will study the impact of integrating behavioral/medical care among patients with co-morbid chronic medical conditions (diabetes, COPD, asthma, and/or heart failure) and psychiatric/substance use disorder(s) on health care utilization and costs. The study will first evaluate utilization and costs for this population before and after the implementation of Pennsylvania’s Chronic Care Initiative (CCI; a medical home initiative that does not integrate behavior health), hypothesizing that Medicaid patients with co-morbid chronic health and mental health/substance abuse diagnoses who are treated at a CCI clinic will have comparable pre-post CCI results as those treated in traditional clinical settings.  The researchers will also look at pre-post utilization/costs for patients who are treated in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) with integration of behavioral health, comparing these utilization/cost numbers to those for similar patients treated at FQHCs that have not integrated behavioral health.