AHRQ Integration Academy - From Coding to Braiding: Strategies for Financing and Sustaining Integrated Behavioral Health in Primary Care Settings

Financing remains one of the biggest barriers to integrating behavioral health and primary care, but there are strategies that can help. Join the AHRQ Academy for Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care on Wednesday, June 10, from 1:00–2:30pm ET for a webinar on financing and sustaining integrated behavioral health (IBH) in primary care settings. The session will provide an inside look at the new Integrated Behavioral Health Financing Toolkit and explore practical approaches to building sustainable IBH funding models across primary care, health systems, safety net settings, and rural communities. Attendees will learn how practices can move beyond fee-for-service reimbursement by leveraging braided financing strategies, to include alternative payment models, grants, philanthropy, graduate medical education funding, and internal cross-subsidization. The webinar will also feature a case example of a rural health clinic using the IBH Financing Toolkit to add a behavioral health consultant to address opioid use disorder and suicide risk. This exercise will illustrate how organizations can combine revenue streams, optimize coding and billing, strengthen EHR capabilities, and build community partnerships to support IBH implementation and long-term sustainability.