Presenters
- Daniel Mullin, PsyD, MPH, Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Medical School Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Worcester, MA
- Stephanie Kirchner, MSPH, RD, Practice Transformation Program Manager, University of Colorado, Dept. of Family Medicine, Denver, CO
- Jennifer Funderburk, PhD, Clinical Research Psychologist, VA Center for Integrated Healthcare, Syracuse, NY
- Larry Mauksch, MEd, Clinical Professor Emeritus, University of Washington Department of Family Medicine, Seattle, WA
Summary
An important question to behavioral health in primary care is how important is it to maintain continuity of providers? This presentation will review literature examining the impact of continuity of providers on various outcomes within behavioral health, primary care, and other disciplines. A definition of continuity and the role of continuity in primary care will be discussed. Metrics will be proposed for assessing continuity of care for patients, families, individual providers, and teams. The presentation will conclude with a call for action in research related to the role of continuity for behavioral health clinicians working in primary care in promoting important patient outcomes, such as cost, health status, and the patient experience.
Workshop Downloads
Objectives
- Summarize the evidence for the role of continuity on patient outcomes
- List three standard metrics for continuity of care provided by behavioral health providers in primary care.
- Describe a research study to examine the value of continuity of behavioral health in primary care
References
- Bodenheimer, T., Ghorob, A., Willard-Grace, R., & Grumbach, K. (2014). The 10 building blocks of high-performing primary care. The Annals of Family Medicine, 12(2), 166-171.
- Chang, A., Bowen, J. L., Buranosky, R. A., Frankel, R. M., Ghosh, N., Rosenblum, M. J., et al. (2013). Transforming primary care training--patient-centered medical home entrustable professional activities for internal medicine residents. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 28(6), 801-809.
- Dickinson, W. P., & Miller, B. F. (2010). Comprehensiveness and Continuity of Care and the Inseparability of Mental and Behavioral Health From the Patient-Centered Medical Home. Families, Systems, & Health, 28(4), 348-355.
- Epperly, T., Bechtel, C., Sweeney, R., Greiner, A., Grumbach, K., Schilz, J., et al. (2019). The Shared Principles of Primary Care: A Multistakeholder Initiative to Find a Common Voice. Family Medicine, 51(2), 179-184.
- Haggerty, J. L., Roberge, D., Freeman, G. K., & Beaulieu, C. (2013). Experienced continuity of care when patients see multiple clinicians: A qualitative metasummary. Annals of Family Medicine, 11(3), 262-271.