Open AccessRapid Growth of Mental Health Services at Community Health Centers
Author(s) -
Tim A. Bruckner,
Parvati Singh,
Lonnie R. Snowden,
Jangho Yoon,
Bharath Chakravarthy
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
administration and policy in mental health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1573-3289
pISSN - 0894-587X
DOI - 10.1007/s10488-019-00947-w
Subject(s) - mental health , health administration , public health , health informatics , medicine , community health , health care , health services research , health policy , environmental health , family medicine , gerontology , psychiatry , nursing , economic growth , economics
Community Health Centers (CHCs) target medically underserved communities and expanded by 70% in the last decade. We know little, however, about mental health services at CHCs. We analyzed data from 2006 to 2015 and determined county-level drivers of these services. Mental health patients at CHCs fall from 2006 to 2007 but then rise consistently from 2007 to 2015. Counties with fewer physicians, greater percent insured and greater percent white population show faster growth in mental health services. Increases in mental health services at CHCs outpace general CHC growth and reflect federal efforts to integrate behavioral health care into primary care.