Building Bridges: Mental Health Consumers and Primary Health Care Representatives in Dialogue

April 18, 2006 This report was written by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services concerning the issue of decreasing the spread between mental healthcare and general healthcare. Although mental health and general health are clearly connected, a chasm exists between the mental health care and general health care systems in both practice and financing. The intersection of mental health and primary health recently has garnered increased attention and concern at the national and State levels. It has become apparent that consumers of mental health services experience unnecessary suffering, functional impairment, mortality, economic losses, and health care costs . . .