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The Behavioral Health Sector and Physical Health Services Models
Individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) are known to have significant co-morbid medical conditions and as such greater medical costs though only a tiny fraction of that overall costs can be attributed directly to mental health services.1 It is well established that approximately 50% of total...
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The Case for Integrated Care
Often, individuals seeking services report that finding quality healthcare services can be like searching for a needle in a haystack. However, it does not have to be this way. There is an emerging trend in healthcare, Integrated Care that can radically shift this challenging experience. Integrated...
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The Critical Role of Relationships in Integrated Health Care Delivery
Integrated care models are now increasingly being adopted across all medical settings, including behavioral health. Their potential to help health care systems attain the triple aim of improving service quality, promoting population health and reducing costs has led policy makers to incentivize...
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The Physician Assistant Bridges the Gap in Integrated Care
A growing aging population, healthcare reform, earlier diagnosis of disease states and an overall sicker population with more comorbidities than ever before has created the need for a more collaborative relationship between primary care and behavioral health care providers. The traditional...
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“Wrapping Around” Integrated Care
In 2014, Bergen’s Promise, Bergen County’s Care Management Organization within New Jersey’s Children’s System of Care (CSOC), took a bold step by agreeing to pilot a CSOC Behavioral Health Home; thus, establishing the first Pediatric Behavioral Health Home (BHH) in New Jersey and the first...
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An Introduction to Reimbursement and Coding for Psychiatric Collaborative Care Management Services
Integrated care has been recognized as a valuable tool for enhancing the overall health of individuals with serious and persistent mental illness (SPMI) by improving access to care and treatment for co-morbid medical conditions often experienced by individuals with SPMI. Similar benefits are also...
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Behavioral Health Providers Moving the Needle on Diabetes
As the behavioral health population ages and their medical complexity increases, there is a growing trend in the need for primary care and behavioral health providers to unite and integrate in addressing patients in a more holistic fashion. Perhaps the largest push in the last decade or so has been...
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Co-Occurring System of Care Committees (COSOCCs): An Innovative Regional Approach to Integrated Care
The integration of care for individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders continues to elude our healthcare and social service systems despite a nearly universal acknowledgment of its importance, both to the individuals afflicted with these conditions and the viability of...
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Engaging Patients at Critical Moments is Key to Improving Behavioral Health Outcomes
Massachusetts is home to thousands of individuals with behavioral health needs who lack access to quality care. In fact, according to recent estimates, only 54 percent of adults with mental illness in Massachusetts receive any kind of mental or behavioral health treatment (SAMHSA, Behavioral Health...
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Clinicians’ Perceptions of Telephone-Delivered Mental Health Services
There is a significant need for professional programs to provide training in the provision of telephone-delivered mental health services. Telephonic mental health services is an emerging practice approach that may meet the needs and the field’s commitment to addressing access to mental health...
