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Reducing Barriers to Mental Health and Social Services for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans: Outcomes of an Integrated Primary Care Clinic

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ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND

Despite high rates of post-deployment psychosocial problems in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, mental health and social services are under-utilized.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate whether a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) integrated care (IC) clinic (established in April 2007), offering an initial three-part primary care, mental health and social services visit, improved psychosocial services utilization in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans compared to usual care (UC), a standard primary care visit with referral for psychosocial services as needed.

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study using VA administrative data.

POPULATION

Five hundred and twenty-six Iraq and Afghanistan veterans initiating primary care at a VA medical center between April 1, 2005 and April 31, 2009.

MAIN MEASURES

Multivariable models compared the independent effects of primary care clinic type (IC versus UC) on mental health and social services utilization outcomes.

KEY RESULTS

After 2007, compared to UC, veterans presenting to the IC primary care clinic were significantly more likely to have had a within-30-day mental health evaluation (92% versus 59%, p < 0.001) and social services evaluation [77% (IC) versus 56% (UC), p < 0.001]. This exceeded background system-wide increases in mental health services utilization that occurred in the UC Clinic after 2007 compared to before 2007. In particular, female veterans, younger veterans, and those with positive mental health screens were independently more likely to have had mental health and social service evaluations if seen in the IC versus UC clinic. Among veterans who screened positive for ≥ 1 mental health disorder(s), there was a median of 1 follow-up specialty mental health visit within the first year in both clinics.

CONCLUSIONS

Among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans new to primary care, an integrated primary care visit further improved the likelihood of an initial mental health and social services evaluation over background increases, but did not improve retention in specialty mental health services.

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Contributor

We would like to thank Dr. Rina Shah and Dr. Dawn Lawhon for their leadership in the design and coordination of the SFVAMC Integrated Care Clinic. We acknowledge the support of the San Francisco VA HSR&D Research Enhancement Award Program. We would also like to thank Ms. Ann Chu for her assistance in data abstraction. Finally, we acknowledge and thank veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan for their service to our country.

Funders

This study was funded by Department of Defense awards W81XWH-08-2-0072 and W81XWH-08-2-0106. The funders had no role in the design, data analysis, writing or approval of the manuscript.

Prior Presentations

We presented limited, earlier versions of the data contained within this manuscript as posters/oral presentations at the following conferences: Evolving Paradigms II, Las Vegas, September 2009; Future Directions in PTSD: Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment, Jerusalem, Israel, October 2009; and the International Society for Trauma Stress Studies, Atlanta, GA, November, 2009.

Conflict of Interest

None disclosed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. San Francisco VA Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, 94121, USA

    Karen H. Seal MD, MPH, Greg Cohen MSW, Daniel Bertenthal MPH, Beth E. Cohen MD MAS, Shira Maguen PhD & Aaron Daley MA

  2. University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94121, USA

    Karen H. Seal MD, MPH, Beth E. Cohen MD MAS & Shira Maguen PhD

Authors
  1. Karen H. Seal MD, MPH
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  2. Greg Cohen MSW
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Karen H. Seal MD, MPH.

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Seal, K.H., Cohen, G., Bertenthal, D. et al. Reducing Barriers to Mental Health and Social Services for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans: Outcomes of an Integrated Primary Care Clinic. J GEN INTERN MED 26, 1160–1167 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-011-1746-1

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