Advancing Integration of Behavioral Health into Primary Care: A Continuum-Based Framework

The need to bring high-quality treatment and management of depression, anxiety, and other common behavioral health conditions into primary care has been well documented, but for small to medium-size practices the complex models that are the standard for integrating medical and behavioral care are often beyond their resources. An innovative new framework, developed with support from a UHF grant, delineates a series of steps in eight key areas, or domains, that providers can take to move toward integration, allowing them to progress at a manageable pace in each of the areas independently, rather than attempting an all-or-nothing approach.