Enter the Primary and Behavioral Healthcare Learning Communities

The National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare is hosting a number of Primary and Behavioral Healthcare Learning Communities. The year-long learning communities are designed to accelerate adoption of best practices in coordinating primary care and behavioral health, using a shared learning model and rapid cycle quality improvement strategies.

Primary Care-Mental Health Learning Collaborative

The National Council is pleased to announce the launch of Phase IV of its Primary Care-Mental Health Collaborative Care Project in September 2009. The National Council is partnering with SAMHSA and the National Network to Eliminate Disparities in this phase of the project.

Through a competitive RFP process, four community behavioral health organizations operating in traditionally underserved and culturally diverse communities have been selected to participate in the project along with their local primary care partners. The sites are Community Care Services and Western Wayne Family Health Center in Lincoln Park, MI; Community Support Services, Inc. and Margaret Clark Morgan Integrated Primary Care Clinic in Akron, OH; Connecticut Mental Health Center and The Primary Care Center of Yale New Haven Hospital in New Haven, CT; David Lawrence Center, Inc. and Collier Health Services, Inc. in Naples, FL; and Southeast Human Service Center and Family HealthCare Center in Fargo, ND.

The Collaborative Care project is designed to help participating behavioral health organizations establish mutually beneficial relationships with their community primary care organizations, learn how to obtain increased referrals from primary care, create a structure that ensures collaborative care for shared patients, and increase access to primary care services for persons with mental illness. During the one-year project, participants will receive 50+ hours of expert consulting, peer-to-peer learning opportunities, and a range of tools and techniques to overcome clinical, financing, cultural, and communication barriers to providing comprehensive healthcare for their patients.

The first three phases of the National Council’s Collaborative Care project have reached a total of 16 sites — each a partnership between a community mental health and primary care organization — since 2007, and helped to build effective model programs for health collaboration. Participants in these phases report increased referrals for mental health services, greater access to primary care services, staff and organizational culture changes, enhanced communication with partner organizations, and improved measurement of outcomes. To learn more about the outcomes achieved in Phase I and II of the Primary Care Mental Health Collaborative Project, review the faculty findings.

If you have questions about the project or the application process, please contact Laura Galbreath at LauraG@thenationalcouncil.org or at 202.684.7457, ext. 231.

Behavioral Health-Primary Care Integration Listserve

The National Council’s Behavioral Health-Primary Care Integration Listserve is open to National Council members and others who are working on the frontlines of coordinating care and are looking for a forum to discuss common challenges and solutions.

Federal Agencies

• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
• Health Resources and Services Administration
• Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Stakeholder Groups

• National Association of Community Health Centers
  
• Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
• Mental Health America position statement on Integration
• National Alliance on Mental Ilness
• Whole Health Campaign

• Hogg Foundation for Mental Health 
• Maine Health Access Foundation  
• Ohio Coordinating Center for Integrating Care
• California Integrated Behavioral Health Project
• MacArthur Foundation: Initiative on Depression and Primary Care
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation