Project Description
Organization:
LAC+USC Primary Care Adult Clinics
Summary:
The Primary Care Behavioral Health model in our Primary Care Adult Clinics integrates social workers and psychiatrists into the primary care medical home team. All nursing staff, medical assistants, clerks, and primary care providers are trained in their respective roles in screening, diagnosis, and referral for social and behavioral conditions. Our entire patient population has access to these services, and undergoes universal screening during every visit for behavioral and social determinants of health by a designated member of the healthcare team. These screening and referral domains include: tobacco, alcohol, and substance use, depression, anxiety domestic violence, sexual assault, as well as transportation needs, housing insecurity, food insecurity, legal, immigration, employment issues, and social isolation. Any member of the care team can refer a patient to any other member of the care team. It is the shared responsibility of our healthcare team to follow up and monitor our patients as we help them address these issues. Issues which cannot be addressed safely within the primary care clinics (severe mental illness) are referred to specialty care.