Email UpdatesThe American Hospital Association (AHA) recently released a new issue brief calling for immediate action to integrate behavioral health and primary care, as “government and commercial payers [increase] coverage and consumers [demand] more timely access to behavioral health care.” In this brief, the AHA expresses the urgency of implementing integrated behavioral health (IBH) and outlines six positive impacts of IBH to illustrate why the time is now to implement it:
- Improved patient outcomes,
- Reduced total cost of care,
- Increased access to behavioral health services,
- Enhanced patient satisfaction,
- Better workforce productivity and satisfaction, and
- Reduced healthcare disparities and stigma.
The brief references AHRQ’s Integration Academy’s definition of IBH. For an expanded definition and an overview of other significant IBH definitions and frameworks, see The Academy’s IBH Lexicon. For a deeper dive on some focused subjects related to IBH, see The Academy’s Topic Briefs. And for an IBH implementation guide, see The Academy’s Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care Playbook.