Guide to Using the IBHC Measures Atlas

The IBHC Measures Atlas includes nine core measures for assessing integrated behavioral health care and eight measures with useful items or questions. These measures can be used to assess some or all of the functional domains in the Integration Framework (https://integrationacademy.ahrq.gov/products/behavioral-health-measures-atlas/integration-framework) and were selected from an environmental scan (https://integrationacademy.ahrq.gov/products/behavioral-health-measures-atlas/overview-of-measures).

Many of the measures selected for the IBHC Measures Atlas can be used as quality measures for aspects of health care beyond integration of behavioral health services. Integration can be thought of as a component of quality health care in general, so it is not surprising that measures of general health care quality may be applied to integration of behavioral health care. A few measures were developed with the explicit intention of measuring integration of behavioral health care. See "What is Integrated Behavioral Health Care?" (https://integrationacademy.ahrq.gov/products/behavioral-health-measures-atlas/what-is-ibhc) for more on the relationship between integrated care and quality health care, in general.

The list below provides a description of how different users can capitalize on the framework presented in the IBHC Measures Atlas.

User Group

There are three ways to find core measures in the IBHC Measures Atlas.

1. By measure: (https://integrationacademy.ahrq.gov/products/behavioral-health-measures-atlas/find-a-measure/core-measures) If you already know the measure you are looking for or you would like to see a listing of all of measures available in this IBHC Measures Atlas.
2. By functional domain: (https://integrationacademy.ahrq.gov/products/behavioral-health-measures-atlas/find-a-measure/domains) If you know the domain you are interested in measuring (e.g., care team expertise, patient satisfaction).
3. Guide me to a measure: (https://integrationacademy.ahrq.gov/products/behavioral-health-measures-atlas/find-a-measure/guide-me) If you would like a recommendation for measures based on your measurement goals.

For additional measures that apply to a specific population or condition or have a few relevant items within a lengthy instrument, go to "Overview of Measures - Additional Measures"

If you need further help please contact 1-888-710-0785.

Experienced evaluators may wish to review the attached table displaying both the Integration Framework and the core measures (PDF 0.28 MB) associated with each functional domain. Experienced evaluators may also wish to review the Lexicon^[1] for guidance on assessing aspects of the framework for which formal measures do not exist, or for which use of formal measures may not be the most appropriate.