A new primary care model proves effective for patients with severe mental illness

UNC School of Medicine’s Dr. Alex K. Gertner and Dr. Beat D. Steiner led a study on a new “enhanced primary care” model, which resulted in lower blood pressure and hemoglobin A1c and increased screening for people with severe mental illness. Over the past few years, the Department of Family Medicine and the Department of Psychiatry in the UNC School of Medicine have been working together to spearhead the development of a new “enhanced primary care” model to provide better primary care for patients who have severe mental illnesses. A new analysis led by Dr. Alex K. Gertner, a psychiatry resident at UNC Hospitals, has added further evidence that the new model is effective. Gertner found that the enhanced primary care model resulted in lower hemoglobin A1c and blood pressure for patients with severe mental illness when compared to other primary care clinics throughout the state of North Carolina that do not use the model.