Integrated Behavioral Health in Primary Care
This project will integrate behavioral health into Kalispell Regional Medical Center’s nine primary care clinics through hiring and embedding five social workers in those practices. With consultation from the National Council for Behavioral Health, this project will provide screenings, evidence-basedThe goal of this project was to integrate behavioral health care into Logan Health's nine primary care clinics to improve the identification and treatment of mental illness and substance use disorders (SUDs). Through this grant, Logan Health established universal screening protocols for behavioral health, care pathways to ensure appropriate support and intervention, evidence-based treatment, and effective care management tracking. Logan Health emphasized building strong relationships between primary care and behavioral health care providers. It developed a workflow for referrals from its care navigation team to the integrated behavioral health team. Dashboards provided by the technical assistance contractor offered a quick view of successes and opportunities and were shared with teams monthly, helping to drive continuous process improvement. Of the 8,920 patients seen during the project, 96% were screened for depression, and 33% were screened for SUDs. Among patients treated for depression, 70% demonstrated measurable improvement. Among those treated for SUDs, 57% showed measurable progress. Logan Health has developed a financially sustainable model that will continue to improve and support behavioral health integration over the long term treatment, and tracking for effective care management transforming the culture of delivering mental health services from the inception of the program. The project will also allow for care coordination between the primary care clinics, psychiatric outpatient clinics, emergency department, and inpatient psychiatric unit within the health center system, as well as a standardized system of communication and referral to community partners.