The Future of Embedded Mental/Behavioral Health in the Military

This chapter represents the author’s view on the future of EMH. Although EMH continues to grow there remains a need to objectively measure the effectiveness of EMH such as return to duty rates. Despite early successes in EMH, there are threats to the future, including gaps in military treatment facility (MTF) manning as mental health billets are prioritized to operational units. These gaps lead to more service members being referred to the TRICARE network, which ultimately affects readiness. The increasing demand for mental health services also risks EMH providers having less time for outreach activities resulting in EMH clinics drifting closer towards an MTF model of care. Despite these threats to EMH there are several opportunities to ensure the continued maturation and optimization of EMH across the Services. The chapter ends with a discussion of opportunities to optimize EMH with the right number and type of specialists, the right type of specialized training, the optimum mix of clinical versus non-clinical activities, methods to optimize coordination with MTF providers, as well as the opportunity to increase standardization and codification of best practices through higher level policy.