Abstract
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine whether the evidence-based collaborative chronic care model (CCM) is associated with reduced all-cause mortality among adult patients treated in general mental health clinics. METHODS: Data came from a stepped-wedge, cluster-randomized CCM implementation trial across nine U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers. Survival analysis was used to estimate the relative effect of the treatment (N=5,570) compared with a control group (N=46,443) over 1 year. RESULTS: After adjustment for site-level and individual-level acute care utilization factors, analyses indicated that patients treated with the CCM experienced a reduction in all-cause mortality relative to patients in the control cohort (hazard ratio=0.76, 95% CI=0.60-0.95). CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first in which CCM has been shown to reduce all-cause mortality for patients treated in general mental health clinics. Care delivery models should be considered part of efforts to reduce the life expectancy gap between individuals with psychiatric conditions and those without such conditions.