Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Mar-Apr;21(2):157-160.
doi: 10.1370/afm.2947.

Characteristics of Family Physicians Practicing Collaboratively With Behavioral Health Professionals

Sebastian T Tong  1 , Zachary J Morgan  2 , Kari A Stephens  3 , Andrew Bazemore  2 , Lars E Peterson  2   4
Affiliations

Characteristics of Family Physicians Practicing Collaboratively With Behavioral Health Professionals

Sebastian T Tong et al. Ann Fam Med. 2023 Mar-Apr.

Abstract

Integrating behavioral health into primary care can improve access to behavioral health and patient health outcomes. We used 2017-2021 American Board of Family Medicine continuing certificate examination registration questionnaire responses to determine the characteristics of family physicians who work collaboratively with behavioral health professionals. With a 100% response rate, 38.8% of 25,222 family physicians reported working collaboratively with behavioral health professionals, with those working in independently owned practices and in the South having substantially lower rates. Future research exploring these differences could help develop strategies to support family physicians implement integrated behavioral health to improve care for patients in these communities.

Keywords: behavioral medicine; integration of care; mental health services; primary health care.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
State-level variation of family physicians who work collaboratively with behavioral health professionals, 2017-2021.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bierman AS, Wang J, O’Malley PG, Moss DK.. Transforming care for people with multiple chronic conditions: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s research agenda. Health Serv Res. 2021; 56(Suppl 1)(Suppl 1): 973-979. 10.1111/1475-6773.13863 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Schafer KM, Lieberman A, Sever AC, Joiner T.. Prevalence rates of anxiety, depressive, and eating pathology symptoms between the pre- and peri-COVID-19 eras: a meta-analysis. J Affect Disord. 2022; 298(Pt A): 364-372. 10.1016/j.jad.2021.10.115 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Woolf SH, Masters RK, Aron LY.. Effect of the covid-19 pandemic in 2020 on life expectancy across populations in the USA and other high income countries: simulations of provisional mortality data. BMJ. 2021; 373: n1343. 10.1136/bmj.n1343 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wodarski JS. The integrated behavioral health service delivery system model. Soc Work Public Health. 2014; 29(4): 301-317. 10.1080/19371918.2011.622243 - DOI - PubMed
    1. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine . Key Policy Challenges and Opportunities To Improve Care For People With Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders: Proceedings of a Workshop. The National Academies Press; 2020. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources