Events

Topic

With the Affordable Care Act and Mental Health and Addiction Parity Act, it is widely assumed that behavioral health care is in the midst of enormous transformation. Epidemiological studies and health services research document the high prevalence of behavioral health conditions in primary medical care settings, and the significant costs associated with not addressing psychiatric and substance use disorders. A variety of behavioral health interventions, both pharmacological and psychosocial, have been developed and studied in primary care situations. Examples of evidence-based interventions include the Collaborative Care Model for Depression, SBIRT for high risk alcohol use, and medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorders. Although these treatments have consistently been found to pass efficacy and effectiveness trials, they are not widely implemented—in fact few if any are sustained beyond the funded research time frame. Implementation science provides systematic insight into the barriers and facilitators of evidence-based practice adoption and reach in routine practice settings and health care systems. In this presentation, the challenge of implementing and sustaining integrated behavioral health in primary care will be analyzed using a pragmatic research framework. Solutions are proposed that consider policy and financing; unified trans-diagnostic approaches to typical and complex behavioral health conditions (psychiatric and substance-related); optimization of care of individual providers and teams; and, the role of technology-based platforms to enhance the quality of behavioral health care, reduce practice variation, and empower patients and families.

About the Presenter

Dr. Mark McGovern is a Professor of Psychiatry, of Community & Family Medicine, and of The Dartmouth Institute of Health Policy and Clinical Practice at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in Lebanon New Hampshire USA. His clinical practice is based at the Hanover Psychiatry, and his scientific program is focused on behavioral health services and implementation research.