Care coordination can enable interagency collaboration in providing comprehensive mental health care for persons with severe and persistent mental illness

Background: Multiple needs of individuals with severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI) can be addressed by interagency collaboration. However, several barriers make collaborative efforts quite challenging. As a result, individuals with SPMI do not receive the support they need and eventually fall through the cracks in the system. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the potential of a care coordination role in enabling collaboration of agencies in the provision of comprehensive care for people with SPMI.
Aim: To describe how a care coordination role can enable interagency collaboration in providing comprehensive mental health care for persons with SPMI.
Methods: Using the example of the care coordinator role in Australia’s Partners in Recovery (PIR) initiative and other published literature on the subject, I will argue how care coordination can enable interagency collaboration.
Results: In the PIR initiative, the support facilitator (SF) serves as a single point of contact for all the different services supporting the client. With a focus on recovery and patient centred care, the SF coordinates a care team made up of representatives from each service that could meet the different needs of the client. According to a care plan developed by the client and the care team, each service provider takes responsibility to deliver their component of the plan. In this way, different agencies are able to collaborate seamlessly.
Conclusion: The care coordination role could hence be a possible solution to overcoming the barriers to interagency collaboration for the benefit of individuals with SPMI.