Integrating Primary Care and Behavioral Health

In recent years the Institute of Medicine and both primary care and behavioral health care organizations have called for integrative care because of increasing evidence that:

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1. Individuals with mental health disorders are as likely to be seen in medical care as in the mental health sector and often do not receive treatment;

2. Are more likely to see a PCP each year than a mental health specialist;

3. Mental health problems have comorbid physical health problems (e.g., cardiovascular or pulmonary, diabetes, or arthritis);

4. Mental health problems exacerbate the physical disabilities;

5. Integrated care has been shown to be effective for common mental health conditions.

 

With the help of a series of NIH supported research and development efforts CHADIS has developed a unique infrastructure to help by offering: 

 

• The full range of behavioral health and general medical tools (hundreds of each).

 

• A care coordination feature that facilitates referrals and coordination between medical providers and community organizations in a direct and efficient manner.

 

• Providers send and receive referrals via email and share CHADIS reports, comments, status-of-service updates and graphical co-monitoring of some outcomes.

 

• The referring provider easily documents the patient’s consent to share information and be contacted by the receiving provider.

 

• CHADIS provides a referral dashboard and automatically notifies providers of changes to ongoing referrals.

 

Teachers can be invited to provide data (including graphical representation) that can be shared with both medical and behavioral health providers