The linkage of Baltimore's mental health and public health systems.

The Institute of Medicine's The Future of Public Health calls for a strengthening of linkages between public health and mental health, with a view to integrating the functions at the service delivery level. This paper details the history of the mental health/public health interface in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1977, mental health and addiction services were merged into the Department of Health. More recently, in 1988 adult mental health services were split off into a quasi-public corporation. Children's mental health, however, was retained as a distinct service within the Department of Health in order to enhance coordination with other health services for children. Replication of such coordinated-care models is certainly feasible.