Patient-Centered Medical Homes: Presenting a Role for the Advanced Practice Mental Health Nurse

As the burden of mental illness grows in the United States, recent data show that many in need of behavioral health services are not currently receiving them. Recent passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has presented an opportunity to change the delivery of behavioral health care to a consumer-driven, evidence-based model geared toward the coordination of care within the primary care setting. Psychiatric-mental health clinical nurse specialist/nurse practitioners are in an ideal position to deliver cost-effective behavioral health care in collaboration with primary care providers under the new patient-centered medical home model of care.