Practice Facilitation in Integrated Behavioral Health and Primary Care Settings: a Scoping Review

Little is known about the contributions of practice facilitators in settings aiming to deliver integrated behavioral health and primary care. This scoping review identifies peer-reviewed articles that describe efforts to deliver integrated behavioral health care with the support of practice facilitators. Five databases were systematically searched to identify empirical and conceptual papers. Fourteen articles met the following inclusion criteria: (1) empirical studies evaluating the effectiveness of practice facilitation (n = 4), (2) study protocols that will test the effectiveness of practice facilitation (n = 2), (3) studies that included practice facilitators as part of a larger intervention without evaluating their effectiveness (n = 5), and (4) conceptual manuscripts endorsing practice facilitation for integrated care (n = 3). Practice facilitators can potentially support health systems in delivering integrated behavioral health care, but future research is needed to understand their necessary qualifications, the effectiveness of practice facilitation these efforts, and what study outcomes are appropriate for evaluating whether practice facilitation has been effective.