CHAMMP

CHAMMPWhat is CHAMMP?

The Center for Healthcare Improvement for Addictions, Mental Illness and Medically Vulnerable Populations (CHAMMP) was recently established at Harborview Medical Center (HMC). HMC’s Board of Trustees designated CHAMMP as a Center of Emphasis in recognition of the pressing need to focus research and training on some of the most intractable problems facing medicine and society--the co-occurring conditions of addictions, mental illness, and/or medical vulnerabilities. The primary mission of CHAMMP is to improve the quality and coordination of care for disadvantaged patients with these co-occurring conditions.

"There is no overarching system to track mentally ill, chemically dependent and medically vulnerable patients, many of whom have problems in all three areas. These patients migrate back and forth between multiple, disconnected systems of care including psychiatric inpatient units, emergency rooms, community health clinics, jails, the state psychiatric hospital, other medical hospitals and substance abuse centers."