Primary Care Research Program

Overview

This program supports research on the delivery and effectiveness of mental health services within the general health care sector and the development of models of mental health service delivery applicable to the broad spectrum of health care settings in which mental health services can be delivered.  The program addresses the recognition, diagnosis, management, and treatment of mental disorders in contexts such as primary care practice, emergency rooms, OB/GYN practice, home and nurse visitation, aging services, and other health care settings.  Increasing access to effective treatment, optimizing the impact of known effective treatments, and provider-level interventions to improve quality of care are components of this program

Areas of Emphasis

• Flexible multi-disease management strategies that primary care practices can use with patients diagnosed with depression and one or more comorbid chronic medical conditions
• Use of non-traditional and paraprofessional providers to deliver evidence-based mental health care in low-resource care settings
• Provider training strategies that optimize detection of mental disorder, treatment initiation, and care management among primary care physicians and staff
• Improving the general health status of persons with serious mental disorders
• Brief interventions to increase adherence to evidence-based mental health treatments
• Implementing decision support systems to improve quality of mental health care delivered
• Use of technology to improve mental health outcomes by augmenting or replacing traditional care resources or infrastructure

Contact

Michael C. Freed, Ph.D., EMT-B
6001 Executive Blvd., 7144, MSC 9629
301-443-3747, Michael.Freed@nih.gov