ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Although health care for mentally ill patients is often inadequate, and although primary care providers (PCPs), sometimes referred to as the “hidden mental health network” (Schurmah, 1985), often provide a substantial amount of mental health (MH) care to public patients, the mental health interface with primary care (MH-PC) has received little attention (Committee on Preventive Psychiatry, GAP, 1980). The advent of public sector managed care has now created incentives and pressure for integration in order to enhance opportunities for PCP gatekeepers and to minimize costly disruptions between mental and primary health care.
