Iruma Bello1,2, Hong Ngo1,2, Rufina Lee3, Lisa Dixon1,2; 1New York State Psychiatric Institute, 2Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, 3Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College, City University of New York
Purpose: Evidence suggests that connecting individuals to coordinated specialty care programs shortly after experiencing a first episode of psychosis improves outcomes. The inability to engage individuals with outpatient mental health services has been consistently identified as a primary barrier to providing treatment to this population. OnTrackNY, a coordinated specialty care (CSC) treatment model, emphasizes and trains teams on initial engagement strategies designed to encourage people to enroll in the program and assertive outreach strategies to reduce drop out rates. We will describe these specific engagement strategies and present data reflecting OnTrackNY’s initial engagement and retention rates. Methods: Teams report data on number of referrals, participants enrolled and length of stay in the program to a centralized data repository. Individual and aggregate rates of enrollment and retention were calculated. Results: To date, there are 21 OnTrackNY teams across the state of New York. Since August 2015, teams have received 3,294 referrals, determined that 25% are eligible, and successfully enrolled 88% of those (n= 734). The program is designed to provide services for an average of two years. Statewide, teams are currently able to retain 78% of participants at 12-month follow-up and 54% of participants at 24-month follow-up. The mean length of stay for all program participants is 12.3 months. Conclusions: There appear to be significant advantages to utilizing strategies for enhancing initial and ongoing engagement with young adults to ensure that the CSC model can be delivered. Data are limited by the relative age of each program, affecting current census.
