@article{ref1,
title="Continuity of mental health care at community health centers and reduced emergency department visits for suicidal ideation/self-harm",
journal="Community mental health journal",
year="2020",
author="Das, Abhery and Singh, Parvati and Bruckner, Tim",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="We examined whether county-level increases in continuity of mental health care (i.e., mental health visits per mental health patient) at Community Health Centers (CHCs) correspond with a decline in Emergency Department (ED) visits for suicidal ideation and self-harm (1) overall, and (2) among specific race/ethnicities across 211 counties from 10 US states, from 2006 to 2015 (sample size = 1412 county-years). We used fixed effects linear regression analyses with county-level socioeconomic covariates and year indicators. In the full sample, continuity of mental health care at CHCs varies inversely with ED visits for suicidal ideation/self-harm (coefficient: -0.04, p < 0.1). Race-specific analyses show that a one unit increase in continuity of mental health care at CHCs corresponds with a 5% decline in ED visits for suicidal ideation/self-harm among whites (p < 0.05). Expansion of mental health care services at CHCs may serve as a key point of prevention for suicidal behavior.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0010-3853",
doi="10.1007/s10597-020-00745-x",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10597-020-00745-x"
}