Addressing Inadequacies in the Care of Patients with Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder

Physicians treating patients with serious mental illness need to overcome a number of hurdles to ensure that appropriate health care is provided to these often underserved patients. The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 established community mental health centers (CMHCs) that provide patients with access to psychiatric care, with the unintended consequence of separating mental health care from physical care. CMHCs do not always have adequate resources to screen, monitor, and treat cardiovascular disease (CVD): they lack sufficient funding, have limited staff, and often do not have laboratory facilities for monitoring lipids and blood glucose.