Promoting Integration of Primary and Behavioral Health Care (PIPBHC)
The purpose of the PIPBHC program is to promote full integration and collaboration in clinical practice between physical and behavioral health care; support the improvement of integrated care models for physical and behavioral health care to improve overall wellness and physical health status; promote the implementation and improvement of bidirectional integrated care services, including evidence-based or evidence-informed screening, assessment, diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and recovery services for mental and substance use disorders, and co-occurring physical health conditions and chronic diseases.
The Center of Excellence for Integrated Health Solutions, funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and run by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, provides free training and technical assistance (TTA) to current and former Promoting Integration of Primary and Behavioral Health Care (PIPBHC) grantees. Our integrated care experts and partners can advise you on evidence-informed strategies to enhance integrated health care.
We offer individualized TTA, peer learning communities, learning collaboratives, grantee meetings and more. Our PIPBHC-focused TTA covers topics such as:
Our experts provide evidence-informed strategies to support your integrated health care efforts. These services are available to PIPBHC initiative leaders and/or provider partners (states and CoCM track grantees).
Request TTAOnce we hear from you, we will schedule a call to understand your needs and begin developing a tailored TTA approach.
The Comprehensive Health Integration Framework and Companion Tools
The Comprehensive Health Integration Framework provides practical tools to assess and strengthen integration efforts at the provider level. This can help PIPBHC grantees and their service provider partners assess their current integration practices, set benchmarks and advance coordinated care.
Lessons Learned From Iowa: Integrating Primary Care and Behavioral Health Care Webinar
(Recorded Jan. 31, 2024 | Duration: 90 minutes)
In this recorded session, attendees heard from Jennifer Robertson-Hill, LMHC, project director at the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services; Tiffany Conroy, MSW, LISW, integrated health consultant at the Iowa Primary Care Association; and Henrietta Croswell, MPH, senior director at Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC) Consulting and Training. Panelists focused on sharing their five-year experience implementing the SAMHSA PIPBHC grant, highlighting lessons learned from advancing integrated care for individuals with substance use disorders, and providing updates on the Comprehensive Health Integration Framework for integrating physical and behavioral health services.
A Discussion of Lessons Learned Through Integrated Care Concept Planning
(Recorded Aug. 26, 2025 | Duration: 60 minutes)
In this recorded panel, attendees heard from David Coe, executive director, and Kiara Robinson, behavioral health consultant, at Colonial Behavioral Health, a community service board and full-service behavioral health agency in Virginia. Attendees also heard from Angela Futrell, CEO at Southeastern Virginia Health System, a Federally Qualified Health Center. This panel of experts discussed the realities of integrated care concept planning and the specific opportunities it presents for improving continuity of care and health outcomes in their communities. They also answered commonly asked questions, including what pitfalls to avoid, how they have ignited a spirit of change across their organizations, and what organizations should consider when exploring partnership opportunities.
Effective Implementation of Integrated Primary Care and Behavioral Health in a Community Health Center Setting: Key Components and Considerations
(Recorded May 21, 2025 | Duration: 60 minutes)
In this recorded session, attendees heard from Shannon Lea, MPH, senior program manager at PCDC; Allyson Yeatts, LCSW, behavioral health clinical manager at the Community Health Center of the New River Valley; and Janie Kelly, LPC, behavioral health administrative manager at the Community Health Center of the New River Valley. Panelists focused on discussing the key components of implementing an integrated care program, including leadership, organizational culture, team development, and the billing and coding considerations essential to supporting integrated care delivery.
Driving Integrated Health at Your Organization
(Recorded Sept. 21, 2021 | Duration: 90 minutes)
This recorded session features three integrated health experts from PCDC. They move beyond the buzzwords to offer real-world strategies for navigating quality improvement measures, overcoming state-level policy barriers and managing patient health information challenges. Hear from Amy Breyer, LCSW, CPC-A; Deborah Johnson Ingram, MPH; and Maia Bhirud Morse, MPH, as they explore how to create and maintain a successful integrated health practice.
Making Integration Possible: Proactive Practices for Successful Collaboration
(Recorded April 26, 2022 | Duration: 90 minutes)
In this insightful recorded session, PCDC experts explore the policies, roles and real-world strategies that help behavioral health providers and health care leaders work together effectively. Panelists share actionable approaches to navigating physical health data in team-based settings and offer practical guidance for building strong, de-siloed partnerships. The session features PCDC experts Ilse Bell, MD; Deborah Johnson Ingram, MPH; and Maia Bhirud Morse, MPH.
The Art and Science of Integrated Care Partnerships
(Recorded July 13, 2022 | Duration: 90 minutes)
This recorded session from PCDC features a panel of expert leaders exploring how to navigate the complexities of integrated care partnerships — from using data to spark meaningful conversations to building trust across interdisciplinary teams. The event closes with a lively Q&A with panelists Pamela Mattel (Coordinated Behavioral Care), Isaac Kastenbaum (PCDC) and Julie Schilz (PCDC).
Using a High-performing Team to Successfully Achieve Integrated Care
(Recorded March 13, 2024 | Duration: 90 minutes)
In this recorded session, PCDC and Dr. Eboni Winford, director of research at Cherokee Health Systems (CHS), discussed how your organization can achieve excellence through integration. Dr. Winford shares her experience implementing integrated care at CHS. She also describes ways in which leaders can demonstrate support for integrated care and discuss how to recruit and retain strong team members. Additionally, Dr. Winford demonstrates how Rogers’ Innovation Adoption Curve can be used to identify individual team members’ readiness to implement integrated care.
Conversations That Count: Curbside Consultations
(Recorded April 24, 2024 | Duration: 90 minutes)
In this recording of the final webinar of the Operationalizing Integration series, leaders Nick Szubiak, MSW, LCSW; Tillman Farley, MD; and Shannon Lea, MPH, discussed the tenets of integration and how to make them actionable. In addition, panelists shared key considerations for effective communication and discussed ways to foster healthy working relationships between behavioral health and primary care providers in integrated care.
Advancing Measurement-informed Care in Community Behavioral Health
(Published Feb. 20, 2024 | Updated Aug. 26, 2026)
A measurement-informed care (MIC) approach recognizes measurement as a vital, though not exclusive, factor informing behavioral health treatment decisions.
While regulators and payers expect behavioral health systems and clinicians to employ MIC, there are not widely accepted and agreed-upon measures to use. In response, CoE-IHS created this report to identify candidate measures that could advance MIC.
MIC should use a single curated set of measures to meet an organization’s clinical care and reporting needs. These measures should be reliable and valid tools used in conjunction with other sources of information (both qualitative and biometric) to make treatment decisions that support clinical progress and serve as indicators of accountability and efficiency of care.
This report proposes candidate measures for MIC and next steps toward achieving sustainable MIC in behavioral health, including ideas for implementation, advocacy and research.
Wait, We’ve Gotta Ask That Too? Navigating Preventive Screening in Integrated Care Settings
(Recorded Feb. 18, 2022 | Duration: 90 minutes)
This recorded session covers practical guidance for integrating preventive screening tools into care workflows. Hosted by PCDC, the webinar offers selection criteria, sample policies and actionable strategies to help providers and administrators conduct effective screening in integrated care settings. Speakers Deborah Johnson Ingram, MPH, and Maia Bhirud Morse, MPH, walk through common challenges and share real-world solutions for better screening in team-based care.
Integrated Care in Action: Advancing Medical, Oral and Behavioral Health Collaboration
(Recorded Aug. 24, 2026 | Duration: 60 minutes)
In this recorded session, attendees heard from Shannon Lea, MPH, senior program manager at PCDC; Sue Bornstein, MD, MACP, executive director of the Texas Medical Home Initiative and co-lead of the Texas Primary Care Consortium; and Ankit Sanghavi, executive director of the Texas Health Institute. Panelists focused on exploring how medical, oral and behavioral health services can be integrated to provide whole-person care, highlighting practice strategies, workforce considerations, and policy and financing approaches that support successful integrated care implementation.
Integrated Care in Action: Supporting Whole-person Health and Recovery for People Experiencing Homelessness
(Recorded Aug. 5, 2026 | Duration: 60 minutes)
In this recorded session, attendees heard from Shannon Lea, MPH, senior program manager at PCDC; Allyson Hedge, LCSW, director of recovery solutions at the Community Health Center of the New River Valley; and Janie Kelly, LPC, director of behavioral health at the Community Health Center of the New River Valley. Panelists focused on exploring how integrated care can support treatment for individuals experiencing homelessness, sharing practical strategies, on-site supports and lessons learned to reduce barriers and improve access to coordinated, whole-person care for this population.
Improving Outcomes Through Integrated Crisis Care
(Recorded Aug. 13, 2026 | Duration: 60 minutes)
In this recorded session, attendees heard from Laura Slocum, LPC, vice president of Crisis Systems Transformation at the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute. Panelists focused on recognizing common warning signs of behavioral health crises across the continuum of care and identifying effective approaches for intervention, coordination and collaboration across systems to support individuals experiencing behavioral health needs.
Center for Workforce Solutions
The National Council’s Center for Workforce Solutions (CWS) is committed to strengthening the mental health and substance use workforce. As a thought leader and resource hub, CWS identifies and elevates innovative strategies and solutions to help National Council members and the field address persistent workforce challenges.
Reimagining the Workforce to Expand Access and Sustainability of Integrated Care
(Recorded June 9, 2026 | Duration: 60 minutes)
In this recorded session, attendees heard from Jessica Lyons, MS, LMFT, cofounder and chief clinical officer at Helios Behavioral Health; Stephen Warnick Jr., MD, national director of integrated behavioral health at Accompany Health; and Julie Luzarraga, LICSW, DSCW, of Dignity in Healing. Panelists focused on reimagining the behavioral health workforce to expand access to and sustainability of integrated care, sharing strategies, lessons learned, and innovative approaches for building and supporting effective integrated care teams.
Financing the Future of Integrated Care
The Decision Support Tool helps provider organizations estimate Medicare and Medicaid revenue across integrated care services. The tool helps them finance these services more effectively in community mental health care, substance use treatment and primary care. It includes a list of specific billing codes and service types, as well as requirements for professional discipline coverage, documentation and time.
A set of companion billing modules offers guidance across six integrated care service types:
Paving the Way for Pediatric Behavioral Health Integration Through a Multi-Payer Pilot
(Recorded July 8, 2025 | Duration: 60 minutes)
In this recorded session, PCDC sat down with Dr. Lauryn Walker, chief strategy officer from the Virginia Center for Health Innovation, and Dr. Nadia Islam, a pediatric clinical psychologist, to discuss the development and implementation of the Primary Pathways Payment Model, a multi-payer alignment pilot to expand and support pediatric practices in caring for their patients’ behavioral health needs. This pilot is an initiative of the Virginia Task Force on Primary Care, funded by the Virginia General Assembly, realized through a partnership between the Virginia Center for Health Innovation and Virginia MCOs.
The Collaborative Care Model is the most widely studied integrated care model. Consistent evidence shows that it improves depression and anxiety outcomes across many populations and settings.
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