Arriola Vigo establishes clinic at LBJ Hospital

Jose Arriola-Vigo, MD, MPH, assistant professor in the Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, recently presented a poster at the Harris Health – UTHealth Houston Research and Quality Improvement Day, highlighting the impact of the Psychiatric Oncology Clinic, which he started, at Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital – Harris Health.

The Psychiatric Oncology Clinic was established in 2023 through a collaboration between The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, UTHealth Houston McGovern Medical School, and the Harris Health System.

Before the implementation of this clinic, Arriola-Vigo and his team identified that while outpatient psychiatric care for cancer patients was available at Harris Health, these patients faced long wait times to access mental health care, as they had to compete with referrals from other sources and services.

This clinic aims to provide specialized psychosocial care for cancer patients in a safety-net hospital and solve the challenges that come with psychiatric oncology care. Arriola-Vigo says that this service line at Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital – Harris Health has yielded positive results over the last two years, as it has efficiently decreased waiting times and no-show rates for psychiatry referrals among oncology patients.

Furthermore, the successful establishment of the psychiatric oncology clinic demonstrates a feasible model for integrating specialized psychiatric services into cancer care within a safety-net hospital setting that cares for vulnerable populations. Future goals include expanding clinic capacity by allocating additional time for psychiatric care and replicating this model at other Harris Health clinic sites.

“This is a great opportunity to improve access to mental health care for cancer patients, particularly in the context of the planned expansion of Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital in the near future,” Arriola Vigo said.