A Collaborative Approach to Behavioral Health Care for Veterans and Their Families

M any veterans and their families struggle with behavioral health problems, yet they often face barriers to receiving adequate treatment. Notably, while many veterans are eligible to receive care at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities, family members are not and must seek care elsewhere. In seeking care in the community, veteran family members may face obstacles in ensuring that the care is sensitive to the issues that veteran families face and coordinated across providers. Can a model of care that colocates and coordinates behavioral health services for veterans and their families address these barriers? The experiences in a new health center may shed light on this question. The Unified Behavioral Health Center (UBHC) for Military Veterans and Their Families is a public-private partnership between a VA medical center and a private-sector health care provider, both located in New York state. The center offers coordinated care for veterans and their families by locating VA and private providers side by side at the same facility. RAND researchers evaluated the center’s activities. The evaluation was intended to assess the viability of this new approach to behavioral health care, identify implementation challenges and successes, and assess the impact on patient health. The broader goal was to draw lessons to facilitate the center’s replication elsewhere, should it prove successful. The evaluation had two components. The first documented the center’s capacity for delivering services (facilities, staff, technology, infrastructure) and the actual services delivered. The second assessed patient outcomes. For the first component, the evaluation used data from site visits and focus groups, as well as administrative data. For the second, it used patient-reported outcome data collected by UBHC staff.