'Complex patients' are a sizeable population who generally require disproportionate attention for their management and respond poorly to treatment. Their systemic medical, psychiatric and personal needs have a tendency to drain or exceed the capabilities of those who treat them whilst overutilizing health care resources. As this patient population grows, we move ever closer to a crisis in health care delivery. This volume presents an innovative team-based approach for assessing and managing diagnostically complex and management intensive patients. The physician-led 'Medical-Psychiatric Coordinating Physician (MPCP)' model not only improves patient treatment, but also provides for the containment of costs by reducing redundancy and curbing excess in the use of services. Other benefits include improved diagnostic accuracy and decision making, as well as better communication among physicians and allied health professionals. This book is essential reading for psychiatrists, primary care physicians, and physicians, directors and administrators working in multidisciplinary specialty clinics. Philip Erdberg, PhD is Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, USA. He is Director of Research and Assessment at the San Francisco based Masonic Center for Youth and Families. |
