“Successful Implementation of Integrated Behavioral Health”
A team of Family Medicine faculty have published a new article, “Successful Implementation of Integrated Behavioral Health,” in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine (JABFM). This publication highlights key insights into integrating behavioral health into primary care, offering valuable perspectives for advancing patient-centered care.
The Family Medicine authors include (listed alphabetically): L. Miriam Dickinson, PhD; W. Perry Dickinson, MD; Douglas H. Fernald, MA; Allyson Gottsman; R. Mark Gritz, PhD; Stephanie Kirchner, MSPH, RD; and Kimberly Wiggins, MA, Med.
Additional contributors to the article include Kyle E. Knierim, MD, Regional Medical Director of UChicago Medicine AdventHealth (former Associate Professor for the CU Department of Family Medicine).
Their research included a total of 334 practices that participated in the Colorado State Innovation Model (SIM)—designed to help primary care practices enhance their services by integrating behavioral health and adopting advanced primary care approaches. This project examined the implementation of behavioral health integration and the Building Blocks of High-Performing Primary Care, providing valuable insights into how practices adapted to these innovations.
Their project discovered that Primary Care practices made meaningful improvements in areas like teamwork, care coordination, and behavioral health integration. By the end of the initiative, most practices had onsite behavioral health services, leading to better depression screening and monitoring, including maternal depression screening. These enhancements helped strengthen overall patient care and support
