APNA was pleased to have the opportunity to attend a panel today, hosted by
the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the GE Foundation, and the University of
New Mexico Health Sciences Center. The panel, Innovations in Primary Care:
Expanding Capacity to Treat Mental Health and Other Chronic Diseases,
focused on a collaborative model of medical education and care management
called Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes). Much
of the panel discussion centered around the need to integrate care for
psychiatric mental health and substance use disorders with primary care, how to
expand access to mental health care for underserved populations, and how to
change the widespread perceptions that the brain and the body should be treated
separately.
By teaming specialists at academic medical centers with primary care
clinicians in local communities, the Project ECHO model helps to ensure that
providers are better able to reach underserved populations so that more people
receive the care they need. Project ECHO will be training and supporting 16
nurse practitioners and community social workers to diagnose and treat patients
with behavioral health conditions at eight federally qualified health centers
in rural New Mexico. You can learn more about the ECHO model here: http://www.rwjf.org/en/grants/grantees/project-echo.html
Thank you for the chance to attend such an exciting and interesting event on
behalf of our association!