Literature Collection

The AHRQ Academy’s Literature Collection reflects the growing evidence for the integration of behavioral health and primary care and guides other Academy work. The Literature Collection was last updated in September 2024 and includes both published and grey literature.

Before creating the Academy, AHRQ supported the development of two systematic reviews of the literature on integration:

Integration of Mental Health/Substance Abuse and Primary Care (2008)—described models of integrated care and the impact of integrated services on patient outcomes, and
Future Research Needs for the Integration of Mental Health/Substance Abuse and Primary Care (2010)—highlighted gaps in the evidence for integrated care and offered a path forward for the field.

The Academy used the references from the earlier systematic reviews as a foundation for the Literature Collection. The Academy project team then conducted additional comprehensive literature searches to identify relevant articles published since 2010.

The Academy also identified literature on research gaps, including those described in the Future Research Needs report, as well as emerging topics such as medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder. The National Integration Academy Council's selection of key and foundational literature provides a framework for the modern integration literature. The Literature Collection includes approximately 9,000 journal article references.

The Literature Collection enhances prior compilations of integration resources by containing grey literature, which includes nonpublished resources such as reports, conference proceedings, and Web resources. The inclusion of grey literature reflects the Academy’s mission to gather all sources of information on integration. The Literature Collection features approximately 1,400 grey literature references.

Each of the Literature Collection references falls into one or more of the following topics:

Education & Workforce

Literature discussing education (curricula and training), workforce (providers and other personnel), settings (practices, rural) and service delivery (caseloads, teams).

Financing & Sustainability

Literature relating to all aspects of costs of care, including Medicare, Medicaid, ACA, payers, billing, reimbursement, and utilization.

General Literature

Journal article references that discuss the integration of behavioral health and primary care generally, rather than through a specific lens like Education & Workforce or Healthcare Disparities.

Grey Literature

Non-journal article references (government and other reports, books and chapters, and web resources). Grey literature references may also be categorized under other topics, except General Literature which consists solely of journal article references.

Healthcare Disparities

Literature examining health services accessibility and the patient experience of care for medically underserved areas, racial and ethnic minorities, sexual and gender minorities, and special populations (underinsured, pregnant women, children/adolescents, older adults, veterans, persons with severe mental illness and/or co-occurring chronic medical conditions).

Healthcare Policy

Literature covering federal and state policy and legislation, as well as implementation, analysis, advocacy, reform, and parity.

HIT & Telehealth

Literature concerning both Health Information Technology/HIT (exchanges (HIE), electronic records (EHR, EMR, PHR), and informatics) and telemedicine (telehealth, mhealth, e-health).

Key & Foundational

Core literature on integration as selected by the NIAC and supplemented by ongoing published and grey literature searches.

Measures

Literature affecting the development, validation, and use of measures for integrated care. For additional measures and tools, see also the Academy’s IBHC Atlas and MAT for OUD Tools & Resources.

Medical Home

Literature addressing on patient centered medical homes and the coordination and management of patient care by primary and behavioral health providers.

Medically Unexplained Symptoms

Literature exploring somatoform disorders, somatization, and psychosocial conditions.

Opioids & Substance Use

Literature focusing on use disorders associated with opiates and other substances with potential for misuse (narcotics, stimulants, depressants, hallucinogenics, alcohol, tobacco, and nicotine), as well as on polysubstance use. Among the aspects of substance use disorder examined in this literature are prevention, screening, treatment, stigma and recovery.