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The Role of Integrated Care in Mental Health: Mental Health Blog Day 2013

Blog for MH 2013

I’m happy to be participating in blogging for mental health today. I’m joining in on this year’s blog party because mental health awareness is so important. Each mental health blogger has a unique perspective, addressing important topics such as awareness, recovery, wellness, public policy, services, co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders, etc., providing a personal, professional, or business perspective – or any combination of the three. These interesting and informative mental health blogs will provide an abundance of good reading for blog connoisseurs today!

Integrated care, a whole-health approach to healthcare, plays a very important role in mental health. This perspective has been gaining more and more attention over the past decade or so. It is not uncommon for people who receive mental health treatment to have little or no coordination of services with their primary care provider. Conversely, many people seeking primary care services have unmet mental health and/or substance use disorder treatment needs. This lack of coordination frequently results in sub-par outcomes, yet is often much more expensive as a result of duplicate or counter-indicated procedures and treatment. Lack of coordination results in costly emergency department visits, providing episodic treatment rather than a much more effective chronic care regimen and focus on prevention.

In my last post, I suggested that Integrated Care Awareness Day be recognized during Mental Health Month. As we increase awareness of the need to focus on healthcare in a holistic way, we begin to change the perception of mental health, not only for healthcare providers and policy-makers, but also for the public at large. Through improving access to services, controlling healthcare costs, and through tracking and improving health outcomes, we as a society can transition toward a wellness approach in healthcare.

Access to Services

Stigma is a huge barrier to receiving mental health services. Integrated care allows people to access services through mental health providers or primary care providers. They have the choice to receive mental health services where they are most comfortable.

Controlling Healthcare Costs

Coordination of care and focus on prevention help to control overall healthcare spending. The Affordable Care Act has provided the opportunity for changing the way that healthcare is delivered. Medicaid Health Homes is one such example.

Improving Health Outcomes

Making use of health information technology enables providers to track outcomes, develop disease registries, and to share information for enhancing the coordination of care. As a result, people have improved health outcomes. They are healthier.

I hope you will stop by again soon. The next several posts to come will be a Thought Leader Series, a conversation with the visionary leaders who are instrumental in developing integrated care through research, policy, practice, and their steadfast passion for improving the lives of so many.

Happy Mental Health Blog Day 2013!

May is National Mental Health Awareness Month: Let’s Include Integrated Care Awareness Day

On 4/30/2013, President Obama became the first president to sign a proclamation declaring May as National Mental Health Awareness Month. “As a nation, it is up to all of us to know the signs of mental health issues and lend a hand to those who are struggling,” he said. “Shame and stigma too often leave people feeling like there is no place to turn. We need to make sure they know that asking for help is not a sign of weakness—it is a sign of strength.” (Click here for a full copy of the Presidential Proclamation – National Mental Health Awareness Month, 2013.) This endorsement and recognition are important steps toward acceptance of mental health. However, mental health and physical health are inseparable. And as more healthcare providers provide integrated services, issues of shame and stigma are reduced, thus creating an environment in which asking for help becomes less difficult. The Affordable Care Act has provided numerous opportunities for the integration of behavioral health and primary healthcare.

Mental Health Awareness Month began in 1949 through the vision of Mental Health America to raise awareness about mental illness and the need for services. This year’s theme is Pathways to Wellness:

Key Messages

  1. Wellness – it’s essential to living a full and productive life. It’s about keeping healthy as well as getting healthy.
  2. Wellness involves a set of skills and strategies that prevent the onset or shorten the duration of illness and promote recovery and well-being. Wellness is more than just the absence of disease.
  3. Wellness is more than an absence of disease. It involves complete general, mental and social well-being. And mental health is an essential component of overall health and well-being. The fact is our overall well-being is tied to the balance that exists between our emotional, physical, spiritual and mental health.
  4. Whatever our situation, we are all at risk of stress given the demands of daily life and the challenges it brings-at home, at work and in life. Steps that build and maintain well-being and help us all achieve wellness involve a balanced diet, regular exercise, enough sleep, a sense of self-worth, development of coping skills that promote resiliency, emotional awareness, and connections to family, friends and community.
  5. These steps should be complemented by taking stock of one’s well-being through regular mental health checkups and screenings. Just as we check our blood pressure and get cancer screenings, it’s a good idea to take periodic reading of our emotional well-being.
  6. Fully embracing the concept of wellness not only improves health in the mind, body and spirit, but also maximizes one’s potential to lead a full and productive life. Using strategies that promote resiliency and strengthen mental health and prevent mental health and substance use conditions lead to improved general health and a healthier society: greater academic achievement by our children, a more productive economy, and families that stay together.

As we focus on the importance of good mental health, it’s also an opportune time for increasing awareness of the importance of focusing on whole health rather than segregating mental health and substance use disorder issues. Contrary to popular belief, mental health services are largely provided outside of the mental health system. According to the Milbank Memorial Fund report, Evolving Models of Behavioral Health Integration in Primary Care, as many as 70 percent of primary care visits stem from psychosocial issues. While patients typically present with a physical health complaint, data suggest that underlying mental health or substance abuse issues are often triggering these visits.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Mental Illness Surveillance Among Adults in the United States Supplements 9/2/11 – 60(03);1-32:

Mental illness exacerbates morbidity from the multiple chronic diseases with which it is associated, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, asthma, epilepsy, and cancer (12–16). This increased morbidity is a result of lower use of medical care and treatment adherence for concurrent chronic diseases and higher risk for adverse health outcomes (17–20). Rates for injuries, both intentional (e.g., homicide and suicide) and unintentional (e.g., motor vehicle), are 2–6 times higher among persons with a mental illness than in the overall population (21,22). Mental illness also is associated with use of tobacco products and alcohol abuse (23).

May has 31 days, so perhaps we can designate one of the days in May as Integrated Care Awareness Day. A day set aside to bring awareness of the benefits of looking at one’s health as a whole rather than segregating mental health from physical health. With this year’s theme, Pathways to Wellness, it is an ideal time to increase awareness.

“The body must be treated as a whole and not just a series of parts.”
- Hippocrates (460 BC – 380 BC)

Challenges to Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care Services Revisited

One year ago a poll was published in the LinkedIn group, Behavioral Health Integration:

What is the greatest challenge for integrating behavioral health and primary care services?

The poll generated a tremendous amount of interest, both in voting on the poll and in comments. Much has happened in the healthcare industry in the past twelve months, changes that have an impact on the way behavioral health and primary care will be delivered in the future.

The greatest impact has come from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) that was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States on June 28, 2012. Though passed in 2010, the flurry of activity toward implementing began after the Supreme Court ruling. As states prepare for the 2014 implementation of the new health laws, more and more are agreeing to participation in the Medicaid Health Home plan.

Poll Results

As we near the end of the first quarter 2013, time is running out quickly for implementation. With integrated care playing a crucial role in health reform, the challenges for integrating healthcare services are more and more apparent. Revisiting the below results of the poll conducted one year ago, one has to wonder whether the perceived challenges remain the same among healthcare providers.

Poll results from LinkedIn group, Behavioral Health Integration 3/5/2012 - 3/5/2013

Poll results from LinkedIn group, Behavioral Health Integration
3/5/2012 – 3/5/2013

Finance and Billing

Poll responses indicated that sustainability issues related to finance and billing were the greatest challenge for integration efforts. While many providers have successfully overcome this barrier, it is no easy feat to develop a financially sustainable integrated services delivery system. Fortunately, the ACA created an optional Medicaid State Plan benefit for states to establish Health Homes to coordinate care for people with chronic conditions who receive Medicaid benefits. While only a handful signed on initially, there are currently 24 states and the District of Columbia who have elected to participate in the Medicaid Expansion. Fourteen states have elected not to participate; and 12 states remain undecided. (Click here for more information on where each state stands on ACA’s Medicaid expansion.)

States that are moving forward with Medicaid Health Homes are in the process of making adjustments to policies, billing, and service delivery to enable service providers to integrate behavioral health and primary care services, a requirement of Health Homes:

“Health Homes providers will integrate and coordinate all primary, acute, behavioral health, and long-term services and supports to treat the whole person.” – Medicaid.gov

Partnership Issues

Regular visitors to this blog know that much has been published here about the partnership between behavioral health and primary care providers. This was ranked as second most challenging in the poll.

Why do so many people find partnership issues as challenging? It’s counterintuitive. Most providers approach the integration of behavioral health and primary care with a blind eye to the process of partnership development. It is assumed that the interpersonal aspects will fall into place. Unfortunately, it is far more likely that an integration effort will fail due to partnership issues than financial ones. They are not unlike other partnerships, requiring attention to building a strong foundation from the onset.

Here are additional resources:

Operations/Workflow Issues

All healthcare administrators acknowledge the importance of operations for successful service delivery. That’s why 15% of respondents to the poll indicated that this area is the greatest challenge. Once a smooth-running clinic takes on an entirely new service-line, a degree of disruption is inevitable. The workflow will likely be drastically different than the service providers and support staff have grown accustomed to. Of course, taking on a new service also means addressing the organization’s policies, regulatory requirements, physical space requirements, etc.

With a little careful planning and a LOT of patience, your new integrated clinic will be operating smoothly in no time. Click here for a useful integration planning checklist.

Workforce Issues

Seven percent of the respondents indicated that workforce is the greatest challenge. With the current shortage of primary care providers, nurses, and psychiatrists, it’s no wonder that this is of concern. Fortunately, programs for training about integrated care delivery are available, such as the University of Massachusetts Medical School’s Center for Integrated Primary Care, which offers three programs aimed at training healthcare providers for providing integrated services:

Health Information Technology Issues

Despite concerns over the dilemma of sharing health records for integrating behavioral health and primary care, health information technology garnered 5% of the responses. Fortunately vendors of electronic health records are working earnestly to develop products that allow for the seamless sharing of behavioral health and primary care records. (Click here for more information on the role of HIT in integrated healthcare.)

One Year Later

What are the greatest challenges to integrating behavioral health and primary care in 2013? What will be the challenges next year? Dare we suggest that in the near future there will no longer be challenges?

Additional Resources:

Integrated Healthcare Offers Solution to Inadequate Behavioral Health Services

Behavioral health advocacy groups are expressing concern over recent media attention about people who may or may not be suffering from mental illness.

And they should be.

The horrendous acts committed in the recent past in Connecticut, Oregon, Colorado, etc. are tragic acts of violence. However, make no mistake that these atrocities are NOT synonymous with mental illness.

The fear of advocacy groups, such as the National Alliance on Mental Illness, A New PATH, and Mental Health America, is that the association between behavioral health and these violent acts will result in increased stigma. These and other groups have worked diligently for many years to reduce/eliminate the negative stereotypes associated with mental illness and substance use disorders.

However, the grain of truth to be derived is that behavioral health services need to be more accessible. Ongoing cuts to behavioral health budgets by states over the past few years have resulted in inadequate coverage (click here for NAMI’s chart: State Mental Health Budgets FY2009-FY2012).

Community Behavioral Health Safety Net

Community behavioral health providers are mandated to serve more people with funding that is steadily decreasing and with no hope in sight. The safety net is nearly frayed beyond repair.

Health Reform has spawned a wide array of innovative approaches to healthcare delivery. The integration of behavioral health and primary care is one such alternative that holds great promise for mental health and substance use services.

When primary care providers integrate behavioral health services, there is a dramatic increase in access to services. When behavioral health is included in routine screenings, the stigma of seeking behavioral health services is removed and opportunity for early detection is dramatically increased. Depression, anxiety, and substance use screenings are normalized through inclusion with height, weight, and blood pressure.

Research shows that depression impacts such chronic health conditions as heart disease. Concurrent treatment of behavioral health and physical health conditions results in improved health outcomes. In addition, integrated behavioral health and primary care services results in reduced healthcare costs.

Integrating behavioral health and primary care is a win-win for patients and providers.

Healthcare providers across the US and in many other countries are integrating services in order to improve service delivery. As individuals, we can do our part by reporting both behavioral health and physical health symptoms to our healthcare providers. Remember, healthcare is a partnership. You are a vital member of your healthcare team.

A Tragedy in Connecticut: We Are In This Together

We at Behavioral Health Integration Consulting are devastated by the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Our hearts go out to the families, friends, coworkers of the innocent lives that were senselessly lost. There is no solace, no answers for the innumerable questions. We honor the memories of the heroes who died so that others could live.

All across the US…and across the world…mothers, fathers, grandparents, friends, grieve for the loss of the children they have never met. We share in your grief. Collectively we mourn…because we all recognize that this could easily have been our children, our friends, our coworkers lost. The atrocities happened to all of us. We are in this together.

We want to share Mahatma Gandhi’s “Prayer for Peace” as a small offering of condolence:

Prayer for Peace - Mahatma Gandhi

In addition, we pledge to work diligently with healthcare providers across the country to make behavioral health services more accessible for people in need. In lieu of funding limitations and ongoing cuts to state behavioral health services, the logical solution is to promote the integration of behavioral health and primary care services. Via healthcare reform and healthcare policy, we shall succeed in our mission.

Blessings to all of you from all of us at Behavioral Health Integration Consulting.

CFHA Blog: Collaborative Care Is An Evidence Based Treatment Model For Depression And Anxiety

Collaborative Care Is An Evidence Based Treatment Model For Depression And Anxiety
Posted By Pamela Williams in CFHA* Blog

As readers of this blog are well aware, depression and anxiety “are a major cause of disease burden and disability with depression projected to become one of the three leading causes of burden of disease by 2030.” It is estimated that 90% of people who suffer from depression and anxiety are treated solely by their primary care physician, and the majority of these interventions are exclusively pharmacological. Many people also report being unsatisfied with the level of care they receive. While these facts point toward collaborative care being a logical and effective treatment model for depression and anxiety, there was not enough research that provided conclusive evidence to support recommending collaborative care for those with depression and anxiety problems until this year.

Click here to read the complete story on the CFHA Blog

*Collaborative Family Healthcare Association (CFHA) promotes a comprehensive and cost-effective model of healthcare delivery that integrates mind and body, individual and family, patients, providers and communities. CFHA achieves this mission through education, training, partnering, consultation, research and advocacy. 

Psychiatric News: Integrated-Care Models Increase Psychiatrists’ Impact

Integrated-Care Models Increase Psychiatrists’ Impact

As published in Psychiatric News by Mark Moran: 

If psychiatrists want to be more effective and help a much larger number of people, they need to work in a model of integrated care where they can collaborate closely with primary care physicians, said psychiatrist Jürgen Unützer, M.D., M.P.H., at APA’s 2012 Institute on Psychiatric Services in New York last month.

Click here to review the complete article in Psychiatric News

Mental Illness Awareness Week: Raising Awareness of the Need for Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care Services

Mental Illness Awareness Week, October 7 – 13, 2012

In the US the first week of October has been recognized as Mental Illness Awareness Week since 1990 when it was established by Congress in recognition of the National Alliance for Mental Illness’s efforts to increase public awareness about mental illness. Mental Illness Awareness Week also coincides with similar organizational campaigns:

There is no doubt that this campaign has been a successful one, raising awareness, encouraging people to screen for depression, and chipping away at the negativity surrounding mental illness. This theme is aligned with the philosophy of behavioral health integration. Therefore, perhaps a day can be designated for recognizing the importance of integrating behavioral health and primary care services. When physical health and behavioral health are addressed concurrently, people have better health outcomes and are better satisfied with their healthcare services. Integrated healthcare also offers improved access to services and reduces healthcare costs.

Integration has been referred to as the neck; a means of reconnecting the mind and body. In integrated healthcare, the mind and body are addressed as a whole, rather than compartmentalized. There is a focus on prevention and wellness that promotes improved health outcomes. Across the United States and around the world, behavioral health and primary care providers are transitioning service delivery to a more collaborative approach. The United States Department of Health and Human Services‘ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has invested in nearly 100 initiatives in their Primary and Behavioral Healthcare Integration grants. This commitment demonstrates the importance placed on integrated healthcare by the United States.

Perhaps we can designate each Friday of Mental Illness Awareness Week as National Behavioral Health and Primary Care Integration Awareness Day.

What do you think?

Behavioral Health – Primary Care Integration: Focus on Wellness

Cardiometabolic syndrome (diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and dyslipidemia) is prevalent among people living with serious behavioral health conditions resulting in their dying decades prematurely. The integration of behavioral health and primary care holds great promise for improving health outcomes. Not only are comorbid conditions treated concurrently, the focus on wellness/prevention allows for learning healthy habits.

Focus on Wellness

The following video, Be One in a Million, was created by Intecovery Cobb CSB and the Peer Support Program at Cobb/Douglas CSB as part of the Million Hearts initiative. It provides a look at the prevalence of preventable health conditions and the contributing factors. This inspiring video features individuals who self-identify as living with behavioral health disorders and thought-leaders in healthcare integration. It provides suggestions of ways to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

Enjoy…after watching you may decide to take the pledge, too!

Behavioral Health Homes

In the midst of talk of healthcare reform, it is apparent that the face of healthcare is undergoing numerous changes from the traditional delivery system. Accountable Care Organizations and other collaborative efforts are proving to be viable solutions for addressing the gaps within healthcare, providing a glimpse of its future structure. Efforts are underway across the nation (and internationally) to integrate behavioral health and primary services within the ACOs as well as between community behavioral health and primary care providers.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has created a health home option in Medicaid for treatment of chronic conditions. Thus, the concept of the health home was created, with incentives in place for a more holistic approach to healthcare in an attempt to improve quality of care, contain or reduce costs, and improve outcomes. With behavioral health conditions meeting the established criteria for chronic conditions, behavioral health homes are the ideal solution for meeting the needs of people with serious behavioral health disorders who have not traditionally accessed healthcare on an ongoing basis. While the majority of information circulating regarding healthcare integration is related to integrating behavioral health into a primary care setting, it’s a mistake to assume that primary care will absorb all behavioral health services. Specialty behavioral healthcare plays a distinct and important role within healthcare. Individuals with serious mental illnesses historically receive the majority of their services in community behavioral health settings. Many prefer to receive their primary care services within this setting as well for a variety of reasons. Primary care, in its typical current structure, would require significant modifications to take on the added line of business. Many organizations have successfully managed this, with Cherokee Health Systems leading the way for decades. However, primary care clinics that are not prepared nor inclined to follow this model may defer to the Behavioral Health Home.

What is a Behavioral Health Home?

First, let’s talk about what it is not. It is not a group home or nursing home. It is not a physical structure meant to house those in need of behavioral health services. The behavioral health home is a behavioral health organization that serves as a health home for people with mental health and substance use disorders.

Behavioral Health Homes for People with Mental Health and Substance Use Conditions prepared by Dr. Benjamin Druss and Dr. Laurie Alexander for the SAMHSA-HRSA Center for Integrated Health Solutions provides a thorough overview and guidance for establishing the behavioral health home. This document provides practical information for providers in their efforts to provide a more comprehensive delivery system to address the triple aim of healthcare. Behavioral Health Homes for People with Mental Health and Substance Use Conditions is an excellent resource and a must-read for providers in their efforts toward transitioning their organizations into a behavioral health home.