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Experts call for unification of mental and physical health care under PCPs

Medical experts suggested combining pediatric mental and physical health care in a primary care setting to tackle disparities and social stigmas that impede access to pediatric mental health care, in an editorial published in JAMA Pediatrics.

“Young people with a mental disorder and their families may fail to perceive a need for treatment, wish to address the problem on their own, be pessimistic about the effectiveness of available treatments or lack trust in health care professionals,” John V. Campo, MD, of the Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State University, and colleagues wrote. “Health care professional beliefs and attitudes may be uninformed or inordinately pessimistic about the availability and effectiveness of existing treatments.”

Mental health care integration into primary care settings would potentially eliminate the stigmas attached to mental health, by showing that health is unified, and should not be separated into mental and physical components, the authors of the editorial said. Patients and their families typically trust their PCP and would welcome mental health care in this setting, and in could collaborate with mental health care professionals, according to the piece. Incorporating specialty mental health professionals into general medical settings could also eliminate geographical challenges patients face, particularly groups that struggle to receive care, such as low-income, minority and disabled children.

Campo and colleagues suggested that incorporating technologies, such as telephone, telemedicine and computer-based psychotherapeutic interventions could simplify the delivery of mental health care in primary care practices.

Other barriers to pediatric mental health care Campo and colleagues pointed out included insurance restrictions, operational inefficiencies, transportation problems, and deficiencies and misdistribution of experienced and well-trained health care professionals.

“Improvement efforts [to access to mental health services] will almost certainly require a multifaceted approach that considers stigma, structural and attitudinal barriers, and patient and health care professional inertia. One important strategy with potential to address each of these issues is the integration of mental health services in general medical settings, particularly in primary care,” the researchers said.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.