Primary Care Services

Primary care is our first line of defense. It is the “de facto” mental health system. Let’s face it. For effective behavioral health care, we need an equally effective primary care system. Two-thirds of primary care providers report poor access to mental health care for their patients. Primary care and behavioral health clinicians have to work together with their patients and families to address mental health, substance abuse conditions, health behaviors, life stressors, crises, and stress-related physical symptoms. By integrating primary care and behavioral health care, we have discovered that we are able to improve health outcomes, reduce the cost of caring for individuals with multiple conditions, and ease the entry of our individuals into needed behavioral health care that would have been difficult otherwise.

We diagnose and treat common illnesses and spot minor health problems before they become serious ones. We offer preventive services such as flu shots, counseling on diet and smoking, and blood work, and we play an important role in helping manage the care of persons with chronic health conditions.

Primary care practices are increasingly becoming our new model of care and are person-centered integrated health care with behavioral health care. The basic goal is to build close collaboration between primary care and behavioral health care. Providers may operate in separate facilities, have separate record systems, and engage in occasional communication via phone or email concerning our clients. But, at our site, there is close collaboration among available providers for the following services:

• Basic health care
• First contact care
• Assessments
• Crisis prevention and intervention
• Medication reconciliation
• Blood tests
• Cultural competency and family values
• Consulting physicians
• Skilled Nursing
• Training of staff
• Nutritional
• Coordinated care
• Comprehensive care
• Home healthcare

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