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Mind The Gap: How Federally Qualified Health Centers in Boston, Massachusetts are addressing the disparity between prevalence of mental illness and provision of mental healthcare
Monday, November 17, 2014
Karen Monaghan, MSW MS
,
McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, University of Massachusetts, Boston, Boston, MA
Access to mental healthcare in the US is an increasingly relevant and important issue as there is a well-documented disparity between the numbers of people who are living with a mental illness and those who actually access and comply with treatment (Palpant et al, 2006; Corrigan and Shapiro, 2010). Such disparity matters for both social justice and economic reasons. Limited access to mental healthcare has significant impact on a person’s ability to engage in society, the workforce and the economy; it also impacts overall health and life expectancy (Ingoglia and Roth, 2012). Achieving successful implementation of mental health policy has long been a challenge in the US. The intent of policy is often different from actual practice, in part because of decisions made during the implementation process, which can have serious consequences for people living with mental illness (McSween, 2002). While acknowledging that there are numerous factors that explain why so many people living with mental illness do not access treatment, this study seeks to examine how policy implementation processes affect access to treatment and services (Rack, 1982; McSween, 2002; Robichau & Lynn, 2009). In particular, it seeks to examine if the integration of physical and mental healthcare improves rates of service utilization, and if so, how this improvement takes place. This research is pertinent because the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010) has designated funds specifically for the treatment of mental illness in FQHCs and for the integration of care.
Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Diversity and culture
Provision of health care to the public
Public health or related public policy
Learning Objectives:
Describe the ongoing disparity between prevalence of mental illness and access to care.
Explain how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has mandated Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) to integrate physical and behavioral healthcare in order to address such disparity.
Examine to what extent integration has taken place and what, if any impact it has had on access to care.
Discuss how lessons learned at FQHCs can be shared with other mental healthcare facilities nationally.
Keyword(s): Mental Health Treatment &Care, Accessibility
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been researching and studying the social isolation and exclusion of individuals living with mental illness for many years. It was the subject of my MSW thesis and in currently the focus of my dissertation. I have been a Clinical Social Worker for 13 years, and have had considerable experience in addressing problems relating to access to mental healthcare both at the micro and macro level.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
