In a commentary for Health Affairs, Michael Hoge and coauthors summarize the substantial and growing body of evidence that the current mental health and substance abuse workforce is seriously inadequate with regard to number of practitioners, lack of diversity in its composition and overall preparation. The authors recognize that, with a growing number of older and ethnically diverse Americans who are at high risk for behavioral health disorders, combined with the sheer influx of newly insured, the system is at a point of crisis. They call on the Federal government to scale up and actually implement already identified “broad strategies and specific actions necessary” to grow and strengthen the mental health and substance abuse workforce to meet the challenges it faces now and in the future.
Journal Articles & Commentaries
ACMHA DC Policy Forum Issue Brief
New Health Age: The Future of Health Care in America
We live in a transformational time in the history of medicine and health care. The 21st century will be a time of dramatic change, incredible breakthroughs, and totally altered thinking about health, medicine, and health care delivery. This book sets forth what health care and medicine will look like in the years ahead. It takes a look at history, the transformational changes going on today, the health of Americans, the nine dynamic flows that are shaping health care in the United States, and definitions and descriptions of the new institutions of the future landscape of health care and medicine.
Improving the Quality of Health Care for Mental Health and Substance-Use Conditions: Quality Chasm Series
Millions of Americans today receive health care for mental or substance-use problems and illnesses. These conditions are the leading cause of combined disability and death of women and the second highest of men. Effective treatments exist and continually improve. However, deficiencies in care delivery prevent many from receiving appropriate treatments. That situation has serious consequences. A previous IOM report, Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century (2001), put forth a strategy for improving health care overall. However, health care for mental and substance-use conditions has a number of distinctive characteristics. This report examines those differences, finds that the Quality Chasm framework is applicable to health care for mental and substance-use conditions, and describes a multifaceted and comprehensive strategy to do so. The strategy addresses issues pertaining to health care for both mental and substance-use conditions and the essential role that health care for both plays in improving overall health and health care. In doing so it details the actions required to achieve those ends-actions required of clinicians; health care organizations; health plans; purchasers; state, local, and federal governments; and all parties involved in health care for mental and substance-use conditions.