Patients with chronic conditions often need psychosocial support and brief counseling to help them make the lifestyle and behavioral changes required to prevent disease complications. This innovative text, with contributions from respected clinicians and researchers in all arenas of behavioral health, provides comprehensive training for all health professionals including those in medicine, nursing, social work, mental health, and clinical and health psychology who desire targeted evidence-based training in Behavioral Health skills . Rich case examples drawn from typical patient presentations demonstrate the relationship between physical and psychological health and the complexity of behavior change in chronic illness. This text is a timely, relevant and practical resource for all members of the primary care team. It prepares team members to work in the model of patient-centered integrated care in accordance with the recommendations of the Affordable Health Care Act (ACA) and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) medical home standards for identifying patient needs and providing coordinated and comprehensive patient care. It focuses on knowledge and skills needed for working with the most common chronic conditions such as diabetes, obesity, chronic pain, cardiovascular conditions, sleep disorders, geriatric conditions, cancer-related conditions, and substance abuse. It includes chapters on epidemiological trends in chronic illness and systems medicine. Theories of health behavior and behavior change and evidence-based interventions provide a foundation for skill development, followed by detailed coverage of the requirements for behavioral management of specific chronic conditions. Sample referrals and consultation notes provide concrete examples of how the behavioral health specialist might respond to a referral. . Key Features: Provides comprehensive graduate-level training for the role of Behavioral Health Specialist Describes the health promotion and counseling skills needed to function as part of an integrated health team Focuses on proficiencies needed for working with common chronic conditions Addresses the psychosocial components of primary care disorders Includes case examples demonstrating the relationship between physical and psychological health and the complexity of behavior change in chronic illness

Integrated care incorporates behavioral and physical health services into primary care and specialty medical environments. These models of care are patient-centered. population focused, and delivered by a multidisciplinary team of medical professionals. This book is practical, office-based, comfortably accessible, and intended for mental health professionals, primary care and medical specialists, and professional health students, residents, and other professionals working in integrated care environments.

Integrated care is receiving a lot of attention from clinicians, administrators, policy makers, and researchers. Given the current healthcare crises in the United States, where costs, quality, and access to care are of particular concern, many are looking for new and better ways of delivering behavioral health services. Integrating behavioral health into primary care medical settings has been shown to: (1) produce healthier patients; (2) produce medical savings; (3) produce higher patient satisfaction; (4) leverage the primary care physician’s time so that they can be more productive; and (5) increase physician satisfaction. For these reasons this is an emerging paradigm with a lot of interest and momentum. For example, the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health has recently endorsed redesigning the mental health system so that much of this is integrated into primary care medicine.

Behavioral health conditions, which include mental health and substance use disorders, affect approximately 20 percent of Americans. Of those with a substance use disorder, approximately 60 percent also have a mental health disorder. As many as 80 percent of patients with behavioral health conditions seek treatment in emergency rooms and primary care clinics, and between 60 and 70 percent of them are discharged without receiving behavioral health care services. More than two-thirds of primary care providers report that they are unable to connect patients with behavioral health providers because of a shortage of mental health providers and health insurance barriers. Part of the explanation for the lack of access to care lies in a historical legacy of discrimination and stigma that makes people reluctant to seek help and also led to segregated and inhumane services for those facing mental health and substance use disorders. In an effort to understanding the challenges and opportunities of providing essential components of care for people with mental health and substance use disorders in primary care settings, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Forum on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders convened three webinars held on June 3, July 29, and August 26, 2020. The webinars addressed efforts to define essential components of care for people with mental health and substance use disorders in the primary care setting for depression, alcohol use disorders, and opioid use disorders; opportunities to build the health care workforce and delivery models that incorporate those essential components of care; and financial incentives and payment structures to support the implementation of those care models, including value-based payment strategies and practice-level incentives. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussion of the webinars.

Contributed by experts who’ve developed integrative healthcare initiatives with strengths in the areas of policy and principles, organizational systems, or clinical practice. These contributors will illustrate the concepts and describe the nuts and bolts of their integration initiatives. In the conclusion of each section, the editors will construct a template to systematically evaluate these essential elements. This template will organize the information to help stakeholders compare and contrast the strengths, resources, limitations and challenges of how each model meets the vision of integrative healthcare. In the concluding section the information in the preceding sections connects to provide a coherent synopsis of the common themes and practices, from the macro to micro levels of care, which foster successful integration of the medical and psychosocial systems.