UCSF

Background: At the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), college students in the Patient Support Corps learn by helping patients navigate their care. This report focuses on how Patient Support Corps students help patients whose primary care physicians referred them to UCSF’s Integrated Behavioral Health program. We summarize the disposition of these primary care physician referrals. We also describe programmatic efforts to assure that UCSF connects all referrals to behavioral health care, whether at UCSF or externally. Methods: We counted the referrals to UCSF’s Integrated Behavioral Health program between August 2025 and May 2026. Then we determined the number of patients scheduled for care at UCSF, along with the barriers to successful scheduling. We ascertained what support the program’s staff and student navigators were able to provide patients not scheduled for care at UCSF. Student navigators also reflected on their efforts to promote equitable access to behavioral health. Results: We identified 3,568 referrals. Of these, program staff and student navigators scheduled or were in the process of scheduling 2,735 (77%) for care at UCSF. Of the 923 (23%) referrals not scheduled, 546 (59%) prescribed longer-term care than the 8-13 sessions offered by UCSF Integrated Behavioral Care. Another 302 (33%) referrals prescribed 8-13 sessions, but the patient’s home clinic had no psychiatrists or psychotherapists on staff. The remaining 75 (8%) referrals prescribed 8-13 sessions, but UCSF did not accept the patient’s insurance. For the 923 unsuccessful referrals, UCSF program staff and student navigators connected the patients with community-based services within a mean of 1.5 days. These community-based services ranged from local clinics for in-person sessions to tele-health providers for virtual visits. Students reflected on how they learned about barriers to care (e.g. technology, language, health literacy, illness, disability, and provider eligibility limits) while helping patients overcome these barriers. Conclusions: Student interns helped expand access to behavioral health care for patients dealing with insurance limitations, workforce shortages, and other system and patient-level barriers. In quickly connecting patients with community-based services, students helped reduce gaps and delays in accessing care. Students reflected that their interactions with patients (via patient portal messages or telephone) led to a more empathic understanding of what patients experience upon being referred for behavioral health. Based on these front-line interactions, students are now suggesting changes to the referral workflow to improve patient experience.