The Medical Psychiatry Alliance (MPA) is an organization whose main effort is aimed at revolutionizing mental health care in Canada. The Alliance’s mission is to change the way mental health services are delivered to people that have some physical and mental disorders.
Many reputable organizations and generous contributors totally support our initiative. We work in cooperation with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC).
The Medical Psychiatry Alliance is putting together an unprecedented network of experts to address the problem of treating individuals with co-morbidities while also advocating for system-wide reform. The MPA will develop a new integrated care model based on research-based innovations and a new approach to health professional education.
Treatment
The MPA seeks to provide patients and their families with significant peace of mind. They will find it easier to navigate the healthcare system, and the number of visits to healthcare specialists will decrease.
This third point is particularly crucial for the elderly and parents with small children, for whom travel might exacerbate their mental or physical conditions. Below there are some of the expected outcomes:
- Integrated care has the potential to boost patient medication adherence by 40%.
- Medication adherence improves, resulting in lower expenditures. Treatment for depression and hypertension, for example, can result in a 12.5% reduction in emergency room visits and a 17% reduction in hospitalization, respectively.
- Extrapolating from the previous numbers, a 30% reduction in hospitalization for individuals with both physical and mental illnesses.
- Attendance and performance at work and school have improved.
- Reduced mortality as a result of reduced heart failure.
- Improvements in the quality of mental health care.
Medical Psychiatry Alliance Mission
Up to 500,000 people in Ontario are receiving care and treatment for physical and mental diseases, whether they are at risk of developing them or are already suffering from them.
The province is teaming up with CMH, SickKids, Trillium Health Partners, the University of Toronto, and a private donor to deliver a total of $60 million in additional funding for the Medical Psychiatry Alliance.
Around the next six years, members of the Medical Psychiatry Alliance will spearhead the program, which help people all over Canada:
- To guarantee that patients are appropriately diagnosed, new screening and diagnostic technologies are being developed.
- Assuring that physical and mental disorders are treated concurrently so that patients and their families receive the best possible treatment.
- Creating specialized clinical training for medical students that focuses on the care of co-occurring physical and mental illnesses.
- Creating a simulation center enabling students and professionals to discover and test novel techniques for treating physical and mental illnesses in realistic circumstances employing actor patients.
- New techniques for providing psychiatric care at home are being researched and tested.
Quick Facts
- The Medical Psychiatry Alliance will receive up to C$20 million from the province over the next six years to lead the program.
- Over the same time span, a private philanthropist will provide C$20 million to the Medical Psychiatry Alliance’s activities. The Alliance’s members are also contributing C$20 million.
- Over 1.3 million people in Ontario suffer from both physical and mental illnesses at the same time.
- Up to 25% of patients with chronic health problems also have mental diseases that exacerbate their physical problems.
