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Dr Wayne Katon, Pioneer for Collaborative Care in Mental Health, Dies at 64
After more than 3 decades helping individuals with mental health issues, Wayne Katon, MD, director of the division of health services and epidemiology, and vice chair of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, University of Washington Medical School, passed away on March 1 from lymphoma at the age of 64 years.
After more than 3 decades helping individuals with mental health issues, Wayne Katon, MD, director of the division of health services and epidemiology, and vice chair of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, University of Washington Medical School, passed away on March 1 from lymphoma at the age of 64 years.
Dr Katon is credited for bringing together psychiatry and primary care, recognizing that patients with physical ills often have mental ones, and developing models of care to make mental healthcare more accessible, wrote the University of Washington in a tribute to Dr Katon.
In December, he participated in The American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC)’s mental health panel discussion, where he discussed the problems with mental health treatment and how to improve outcomes. He highlighted the collaborative care model being implemented in Washington to improve healthcare outcomes of people with mental health disorders entering through primary care systems.
“I think we have to move away from the idea that we’re going to train enough psychiatrists or child psychiatrists to treat all people with mental illnesses,” Dr Katon said during the discussion. “We do need team-based approaches.”
Listen to what Dr Katon had to say during the panel discussion here.
He spoke with AJMC at the American Psychiatric Association’s 2014 Annual Meeting about using collaborative care for mental health patients, integrating mental healthcare in accountable care organizations, and how to prepare for working in collaborative care teams.,
To see more previously published interviews with Dr Katon see:
Wayne Katon, MD, Discusses the Opportunities for Psychiatrists in Mental Health Management
Wayne J. Katon, MD, Discusses How Collaborative Care Drives Quality
To read some of the previously published papers by Dr Katon in AJMC see:
Strategies for Identifying and Channeling Patients for Depression Care Management
Population Targeting and Durability of Multimorbidity Collaborative Care Management
