Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care for Comorbid Behavioral and Medical Problems

Brief summary (from the registry)

Behavioral problems are part of many of the chronic diseases that cause the majority of illness, disability and death. Tobacco, diet, physical inactivity, alcohol, drug abuse, failure to take treatment, sleep problems, anxiety, depression, and stress are major issues, especially when chronic medical problems such as heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, or kidney disease are also present. These behavioral problems can often be helped, but the current health care system doesn't do a good job of getting the right care to these patients. Behavioral health includes mental health care, substance abuse care, health behavior change, and attention to family and other psychological and social factors. Many people with behavioral health needs present to primary care and may be referred to mental health or substance abuse specialists, but this method is often unacceptable to patients. Two newer ways have been proposed for helping these patients. In co-location, a behavioral health clinician (such as a Psychologist or Social Worker) is located in or near the primary practice to increase the chance that the patient will make it to treatment. In Integrated Behavioral Health (IBH), a Behavioral Health Clinician is specially trained to work closely with the medical provider as a full member of the primary treatment team. The research question is: Does increased integration of evidence-supported behavioral health and primary care services, compared to simple co-location of providers, improve outcomes? The key decision affected by the research is at the practice level: whether and how to use behavioral health services. The investigators plan to do a randomized, parallel group clustered study of 3,000 subjects in 40 practices with co-located behavioral health services. Practices randomized to the active intervention will convert to IBH using a practice improvement method that has helped in other settings. The investigators will measure the health status of patients in each practice b…

Study details

Official title

Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care for Comorbid Behavioral and Medical Problems

Conditions

• Arthritis
• Asthma
• Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease
• Diabetes
• Heart Failure
• Hypertension
• Anxiety
• Chronic Pain
• Depression
• Fibromyalgia
• Insomnia
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Problem Drinking
• Substance Use Disorder

Interventions

• Other: Integration

Sponsor

University of Vermont

Collaborators

Arizona State University; State University of New York at Buffalo; Case Western Reserve University; DARTNet; National Committee for Quality Assurance; University of Massachusetts, Worcester; Patient Centered Outcomes Oriented Research Institute

Start date

2016-04

Primary completion

2021-09-30

Sex

All

Age range

from 18 Years

Results posted

No results posted in this snapshot

Countries

United States

Total sites listed

1

Eligibility criteria