Financial Incentives Influencing the Integration of Mental Health Care and Primary Care

Psychiatric problems are common in general medical practice and strongly influence utilization of medical care. Although several studies have demonstrated the positive clinical and financial impact of psychiatric interventions for medical patients, historic and economic forces have tended to maintain the separation of the primary health and mental health components of care. The author discusses the financial incentives that influence the success or failure of initiatives to integrate mental health care and primary care. Most models for financing care that use fee-for-service, carve-out, or capitated arrangements have done little to encourage collaborative treatment planning and coordination of care or have created conditions that work against such integration. True financial incentives for integration of psychiatric and primary health care are provided only by a shared-risk model of capitation—a model that has long existed in staff-model health maintenance organizations. This model increases motivation to lower overall utilization of care, improve patients' overall health status, and search for more effective models of care.