Citation

Zarzar TR, Rosen DL, Ashkin EA. Psychiatr. Serv. 2024; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, American Psychiatric Association)

DOI

10.1176/appi.ps.20230513

PMID

38204367

Abstract

People with serious mental illness (such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or bipolar I disorder) constitute a disproportionate share of the United States prison population. Like people in the general prison population, nearly all individuals with serious mental illness are released within a few years, and their community reentry often results in poor linkages to health care, increased morbidity and mortality rates, and high social and financial costs. People with serious mental illness have more comorbid conditions and worse cardiometabolic health and age-adjusted mortality rates than individuals without serious mental illness and may be affected more profoundly by poor care continuity at prison release.

The Transitions Clinic Network (TCN) is a program that connects formerly incarcerated people to health care resources. TCN employs community health workers with lived experience of incarceration to link people to social services and primary care upon prison release. In this framework, primary care providers facilitate referrals to medical specialists, including psychiatrists. However, growing evidence suggests that for people with serious mental illness, integrated and colocated primary and psychiatric care can improve outcomes.

In response, we are piloting a modified TCN model that provides colocated care with embedded community health workers to support reentry...

Language: en

Keywords

Primary care; Community psychiatry; Criminal justice; Formerly Incarcerated Transition (FIT) Wellness clinic; Jails and prisons; Mental health services