Comments on “A Note on the Partnership Between Psychiatry and Primary Care”

To The Editor: The editorial by Frank V. deGruy III, M.D., M.S.F.M., on treatment of depression by primary care physicians was eloquent and to the point (1) . Most health plans are realizing that the current reimbursement system does not adequately address the most disabling and costly illnesses and that health-plan-level disease management programs that only peripherally involve the practitioner have limited value. They/we haven’t figured out how to make the switch, but thanks to voices such as Dr. de Gruy’s, I feel that it is heading that way. As we move to a broader acceptance of collaborative care, I feel that we need to raise the level of psychiatrist involvement in managing/monitoring chronic medical illnesses in primary care providers’ patient populations.