A brief summary on Integrus Health Group
A 200% increase in risk for depression for people with diabetes results in 4x the utilization of ambulatory care services and 4.5x the overall cost of health for those individuals with these combined diagnoses.
For people with serious mental illness, a 25-30 year average reduction in life expectancy has been identified, primarily due to lack of access to quality primary care – establishing a major health disparity for this vulnerable group.
While progress is being made to create more integrated delivery systems that connect inpatient, outpatient and other settings, the separation between physical and behavioral health remains commonplace. The result? A fault line beneath our health system that generates poor outcomes and escalating costs.
Based on long-standing research and best practice in a handful of centers nationally, the Affordable Care Act together with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid are now calling for the integration of physical and behavioral health. This type of integration is itself a paradigm shift that requires not only a change in values, philosophy and health care practice, but in the structures that support and sustain this new practice. This type of integration is essential to the success of medical homes and accountable care organizations that have become central to health reform.
Integrus Health Group has been newly created to catalyze integration: we move in – and we move out. We do this by accurately assessing capacity, strategic planning that results in a shared vision for the future, and working with our clients to facilitate methods to implement, sustain and then spread the approach to integration of behavioral and physical health.
Integrus’ approach for weaving physical and behavioral health into a seamless whole is unique, an outgrowth of nearly three decades of work – from hospitals and community health settings to policy and regulatory environments. Our consulting team creates shoulder-to-shoulder partnerships with consumers and families, practitioners and management to:
- assist with developing new care delivery systems that integrate physical and behavioral health;
- strengthen access to treatment data from all entry points;
- and create effective multi-disciplinary teams skilled in stabilizing and supporting patients with behavioral health issues within our primary care settings, while assuring more timely and high-quality primary care for people with serious behavioral illness.
Organizations benefiting from our approach include: health and behavioral health systems, including hospital and primary care networks, non-profit organizations, large group practices such as ACOs (Accountable Care Organizations) and health homes, funding and regulatory entities including state, local and national bodies as well as private foundations and venture capitalists interested in creating innovative and sustainable change within health reform..
For more information about Integrus Health Group -- contact:
Johanna Ferman, M.D.
Principal
Integrus Health Group
Kensington, California
www.Integrushealth.com
Phone: 510-789-7270
