Mercy Health – Cincinnati, which provides advanced, quality care with compassion in your neighborhood through its care network, announces that Mercy Health Physicians is adding to the number of primary care physician practices also featuring a behavioral health consultant as part of the care team available to patients. This follows a successful, six-month pilot that included two behavioral health consultants available to patients of three Mercy Health primary care physician practices.
Seven different Mercy Health Physician primary care offices now have one of four behavioral health consultants available to address any behavioral health issue that prevents patients from achieving their self-management goals and improving their health. Behavioral health consultants are doctoral-level psychologists who can treat patients suffering from mental health concerns such as depression and anxiety and also consult on medical treatment for chronic illnesses such as diabetes, COPD, pain and sleep disorders, among others.
“Some studies suggest that as many as 50 percent of primary care patients experience a behavioral health concern at some point. We know that mind, body and spirit are connected to our overall well-being and we started this program because it was the right thing to do for our patients,” said Randy Curnow, MD, President, Mercy Health Physicians. “Many patients find they need to meet with a behavioral health consultant just a few times to ease or successfully address a particular concern.”
The doctors involved in the program report that more of their patients follow through on behavioral health referrals and because the behavioral health consultants are part of the doctor’s practice, they can both access the patients’ electronic medical records and confer on treatment plans to ensure a consistent approach and follow up.
Satisfaction among the primary care providers and their staff members is up, too.
“Our teams tell us they value having an expert in human behavior on their team,” said Curnow.
Specialists with Mercy Health’s Behavioral Health Institute, which has specialized mental health treatment centers in Mercy Health hospitals in Ohio and Kentucky, designed the care model that Mercy Health Physicians is using in these primary care practices.
Practices with behavioral health consultants include the following Mercy Health primary care locations:
• Dent Crossing Family Medicine – accepting new patients
• Eastgate Family Medicine – accepting new patients
• Forest Hills Family Medicine – accepting new patients
• Kenwood Internal Medicine – accepting new patients
• Springdale Family Medicine
• Westside Internal Medicine – accepting new patients
• Wyoming Primary Care
This deployment of in-practice behavioral health consultants provides expands access to behavioral services to more than 50,000 patients. Mercy Health is planning to expand the number of psychologists in its practices in 2016.
To find a Mercy Health physician in your neighborhood, or to learn about the services provided at Mercy Health, please visit e-mercy.com/physicians.asp or call 513-981-2222.