News Release: Research Dec. 21, 2009 Care Management Improves
Physical Health of Patients with Mental Illness Connecting
mental health patients with care managers responsible for
coordinating their health care significantly improves their
overall health and wellbeing, according to a study by Emory
University public health researchers. The study, the first of
its kind, tested a population-based medical care management
intervention aimed at improving medical care in community mental
health settings. Recent studies show that people with severe
mental illness die 25 years younger than the general population
largely due to medical causes such as heart attacks. "There is a
growing concern about the epidemic of premature morbidity and
mortality among persons with serious mental illnesses," says
lead study author Benjamin Druss, MD, MPH, professor of health
policy and management and the Rosalynn Carter Chair in Mental
Health at Emory's Rollins School of Public Health. "This model
provides one of the first evidence-ba