Preparing the Workforce for Behavioral Health and Primary Care Integration

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Workforce Development
• Interprofessional Education

Background:

• Integrating behavioral health and primary care requires a skilled, collaborative workforce.
• Existing training models often fall short in preparing clinicians for interdisciplinary practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify organizational strategies for preparing clinicians to effectively integrate behavioral health and primary care.
• To understand the challenges and best practices in clinician training for integrated care settings.

Main Methods:

• Cross-case comparison of 19 U.S. practices with varying integration experience.
• Data collection through direct observation, semistructured interviews, and leader-reported online diaries.
• Grounded theory approach for data analysis.

Main Results:

• Difficulty in recruiting clinicians with necessary integrated care skills.
• Underestimation of training and onboarding time/resources by newer practices.
• Effective training requires involving primary care clinicians (PCCs) and behavioral health clinicians (BHCs), not just new hires.
• Internal training programs, including manuals, shadowing, and protected education time, are crucial.

Conclusions:

• Limited training capacity and practical experience are significant barriers to integrated care workforce development.
• Practices must proactively invest in internal training and resources to overcome workforce shortages.