How to Integrate Behavioral Health Into Primary Care

Many people go to their primary care physician with concerns that are actually more aligned with behavioral or mental health. In these cases, a primary care provider may not be able to provide services to that patient but instead have to refer him to a mental health professional. This leads to a disconnected scenario where two separate doctors are treating a patient without interacting with one another. To help solve this problem, integrated primary care centers can provide services for physical and mental health under one roof.

Instructions

• 1

  Consider how you will set up your practice. You may wish to contract with a behavioral health facility that is separate from your own primary care office. In this case, you would refer your patients to that facility for their behavioral health needs but maintain open communication between both offices to best serve your patients. In another option, you could hire behavioral health professionals to work in your office to see patients; that way, all your files could be combined and kept in a central location and your patients would only have to come to one office for all their health care needs.

• 2

  Perform a basic assessment on any patient who comes in with behavioral health concerns. Your adult patients are most likely to suffer from depression or stress, while younger patients may have issues regarding attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or anxiety. By assessing a patient's behavioral health concerns and needs during the primary care appointment, you can fully prepare the behavioral health care provider about that patient's needs and make an educated recommendation for any behavioral health care.

• 3

  Collaborate with one another. In some cases, you may only need to consult with a behavioral health specialist about one of your patients and proceed with medical care on your own. In other cases, you may refer a patient to a behavioral health specialist for counseling and further treatment. Maintaining open lines of communication between primary care and behavioral health providers allows your patients to receive the most well-rounded care possible.