Development of the ICARE Evaluation Plan

Joseph P. Morrissey, Ph.D., Principal Investigator

The ICARE Partnership is sponsored by the Office of Rural Health and Community Care of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. The Partnership is sponsoring four diverse demonstration projects in North Carolina with a goal of improving patient outcomes by increasing communication and collaboration between primary care and mental health providers and their capacity to both make informed treatment decisions and provide appropriate care.

From March through June of 2007 the Sheps Center, with funding from the NC Foundation for Advanced Health Programs, Inc., developed an ICARE evaluation plan to assess the impact of the ICARE initiative that includes analyses of Medicaid claims, surveys of providers and patients, and implementation of the pilot projects. It is anticipated that the Center will conduct the evaluation over the two-year period July 2007 thru June 2009.