Behavioral health integration and specialty medical care: Opportunities for applying knowledge from primary care integration

Abstract

While education and advocacy regarding behavioral health (BH) integration in primary care have been in full force at the state and national level for many years, specialty care BH integration has not received the same attention in terms of practice transformation, workforce development, and payment reform. Models of BH care have been tested in primary care and can be easily adapted to improve specialty patient care. There are many opportunities for using the knowledge base gained from integrated primary care to help move integration forward in the specialty medical setting. The timing for this is rife, as the benefits of integrated BH for patient health outcomes are well established. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).