Open AccessThe Allegheny Initiative for Mental Health Integration for the Homeless: Integrating Heterogeneous Health Services for Homeless Persons
Author(s) -
Adam J. Gordon,
Melissa L. Montlack,
Paul J. Freyder,
Diane H. Johnson,
Thuy Bui,
Joseph B Williams
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2006.094284
Subject(s) - mental health , psychological intervention , health care , medicine , integrated care , gerontology , public health , nursing , family medicine , psychiatry , political science , law
The Allegheny Initiative for Mental Health Integration for the Homeless (AIM-HIGH) was a 3-year urban initiative in Pennsylvania that sought to enhance integration and coordination of medical and behavioral services for homeless persons through system-, provider-, and client-level interventions. On a system level, AIM-HIGH established partnerships between several key medical and behavioral health agencies. On a provider level, AIM-HIGH conducted 5 county-wide conferences regarding homeless integration, attended by 637 attendees from 72 agencies. On a client level, 5 colocated medical and behavioral health care clinics provided care to 1986 homeless patients in 4084 encounters, generating 1917 referrals for care. For a modest investment, AIM-HIGH demonstrated that integration of medical and behavioral health services for homeless persons can occur in a large urban environment.