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Paper by Marisa Domino and Mental Health colleagues published in Health Services Research journal
Researchers from the mental health and substance abuse services and systems program at the Sheps Center examined the effect that primary-care based medical homes had on access to care and costs among Medicaid enrollees with severe mental illness using a variety of estimation techniques. They found that medical homes increased access to both primary care and specialty mental health care, increased adherence to psychotropic medications, greater preventative care screening rates, and resulted in slight reductions in emergency room use. These increases in access, however, resulted in greater Medicaid expenditures. These findings were consistent across three different diagnostic groups of severe mental illness. The magnitude of the effects did vary across groups, especially in preventive screening.