At the University of Michigan, the Tailored Mental Health Management Support for Primary Care (TaMMS) program was designed to help manage the treatment of depression and anxiety among the patient population. The model is dependent on the skills and abilities of the TaMMS care manager, who often has a social work background and plays a critical role in the care of mild to moderately depressed patients. Not only does the TaMMS care manager follow up to ensure that the treatment is working, but he or she also involves a psychiatry consultant in routine review of patient progress and in providing recommendations to the primary care physician for medication adjustment or other interventions. The TaMMS care managers also have additional important functions on the team:
Helping triage patients to appropriate services.
Providing short-term psychotherapy interventions, such as behavioral activation or problem-solving therapy.
Contributing to team efforts to improve workflows, making them Lean and efficient.
Assisting in identifying additional resources and referring behavioral health patients who require specialty mental health care.
While TaMMS was designed for patients with mild to moderate depression, the TaMMS care managers are often asked to help with patients who have serious mental illness (SMI) because of their network connections and system knowledge. Care managers can quickly answer a few questions or involve the appropriate people to make the right next steps happen for these patients. The TaMMS program is now implemented in four clinics—two community clinics and two university clinics—and will be implemented in four additional clinics (two community and two more university clinics) in 2016. The TaMMS program has been supported by funds provided by the UM health system, Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation, Medicaid Match and, most recently, the UM Department of Family Medicine. Efforts are being made to develop a sustainable plan for funding this integrated behavioral health effort longer-term implementation.