Two weeks ago, Family Healthcare, Inc. and Tri-County Mental Health and Counseling Services announced their intent to mesh the two health establishments in an effort to emulate an increasingly common model in health care.
Family Healthcare, Inc. provides primary care, pediatrics and dentistry to residents of Southeast Ohio, while Tri-County Mental Health and Counseling Services is a community mental health center serving Southeast Ohio.
The consolidation is based on a 20-year-old model that originated at Cherokee Health Systems in Knoxville, Tenn.
Blurring the barrier between primary health physicians and mental health specialists creates what Dennis Freeman, CEO of Cherokee Health Systems, calls a “hybrid safety net organization.”
Freeman began developing the model in 1968 before incorporating it into Cherokee Health Systems in 1978.
“I think so much in primary care lies so much in patients’ behaviors — taking care of themselves, having good health habits — so really a lot of primary health care is based on patients’ behavior, so it’s good to have behaviorists,” Freeman said.
The idea to bring the model to Ohio sparked in fall 2010 after Family Healthcare, Inc., sent representatives to one of Cherokee Health System’s four yearly training academies, said Dr. George Weigly, CEO of Tri-County Mental Health and Counseling Services.
“We’re already beginning to open our services in that we have clinicians in three of their (family health care) offices,” Weigly said. “And what happens is those mental health physicians are available to all their family healthcare patients.”
The integration of the two establishments is slated for completion within the next year, Weigly said, noting that it is not decided whether the two establishments will undergo a complete merge or some other form of consolidation.
“I think merger is the preferred option, but we haven’t determined that yet,” Weigly said.
Patients of either health service will notice little to no change with the switch, said Mark Bridenbaugh, CEO of Family Healthcare, Inc., which is based in Chillicothe.
“We’re trying to protect service to clients. As things change, we’ll be sure to notify folks,” Bridenbaugh said. “For the time being, nothing will change from a patient’s perspective on either side of Family Healthcare or Tri-County Mental Health and Counseling Services.”
The goal of the new collaboration is to create a holistic approach to health care and prevent more expensive treatments in the long run by providing better treatment in the short term.
“We think we can prevent some of the most costly interventions like open heart surgeries and all that if we can get people early and provide family health care,” Weigly said.
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