Provision of Specialty Mental Health Services by Rural Health Clinics
This project will document, through the use of qualitative interviews, the extent to which Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) are employing mental health staff nationally, understand why more RHCs are not employing specialty mental health staff, and analyze the barriers to and opportunities for the delivery of mental health services by RHCs. The results will identify opportunities and interventions to encourage RHCs to offer this important service.
The questions which frame this study include:
- How many RHCs employ specialty mental health staff and how are they distributed nationally?
- Why are more RHCs not offering these services?
- What are the characteristics of RHCs providing mental health services compared to those that do not?
- What community factors (e.g., proximity to other mental health providers or degree of rurality) and state factors (e.g., Medicaid reimbursement and behavioral managed care policies or licensure laws) may explain why some RHCs offer mental health services and others do not?
- What are the staffing patterns for mental health services?
- What barriers to offering mental health services do RHCs encounter and how are they overcome?
Publications
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Encouraging Rural Health Clinics to Provide Mental Health Services
Author(s): John Gale, David Hartley, Barbara Shaw, Stephanie Loux
Date: 05 / 2010
This study examined changes in the delivery of mental health services by Rural Health Clinics (RHCs), their operational characteristics, barriers to the development of services, and policy options to encourage more RHCs to deliver mental health services. Key Findings:
- Approximately 6% of independent and 2% of provider-based RHCs offer mental health services.
- 38% of study RHCs reported their mental health services were not profitable but continued to provide them in response to community and patient needs.
- An important factor in the development of RHC mental health services is the presence of a local champion who spearheads the development effort.
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Provision of Mental Health Services by Rural Health Clinics
Author(s): John A. Gale, Barbara Shaw, David Hartley, Stephenie Loux
Date: 05 / 2010
The number of Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) providing specialty mental health services remains limited. This study examined changes in the delivery of mental health services by RHCs, their operational characteristics, barriers to the development of services, and policy options to encourage more RHCs to deliver mental health services. Approximately 6% of independent and 2% of provider-based RHCs offer mental health services by doctoral-level psychologists and/or clinical social workers. Models used to provide mental health services include contracted and/or employed clinicians housed in the same facility as primary care providers. A key element in the development of mental health services is the presence of an internal champion (typically clinicians or senior administrators) who identify the need for and undertake implementation of services, help overcome internal barriers, and direct resources to the development of services.
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