ELO 5 – Chronic Disease 101 for Behavioral Health Consultants

Summary

The purpose of this workshop is to provide Behavioral Health Consultants (BHCs) working in primary care with the necessary skills to understand medical sequalae and comorbidities of the following chronic diseases common in primary care: Hypertension, Obesity, and Chronic Kidney Disease. BHCs will learn about psychiatric symptom “mimics”, medications for these conditions that mimic psychiatric symptoms, and how to modify behavioral interventions for improved chronic disease management.

More than 45% of Americans have at least one chronic disease, with chronic disease also being a leading cause of the death in the United States. In the primary care settings, about 75% of visits are for the management of multiple chronic diseases. Due to the increasing medical complexity of patients who present to primary care, these numbers make it more challenging for Primary Care Providers (PCPs) to manage these conditions alone. For evidence-based management, PCPs will need a team to improve the management of these conditions. Clinicians such as clinical pharmacists, registered dietitians, and health educators have an important role in primary care in order to co-manage the patient population, but often times, patients also need a clinician with expertise in behavioral medicine to understand the psychological and behavioral aspects of chronic disease management. Behavioral Health Consultants (BHCs) in primary care have a very important role in the management of chronic disease. Depending on the BHCs prior training experiences, self-efficacy with addressing chronic disease management and understanding the biological and physiological aspects of a health conditions may be low. This will in turn impact the BHC’s ability to conceptualize and design an appropriate behavioral intervention focused solely on chronic disease management. The purpose of this workshop is to provide BHCs in primary care with the necessary skills to be a successful team member in the management of the following chronic diseases common in primary care: Hypertension, Obesity, and Chronic Kidney Disease. This will be an interactive workshop utilizing approaches such as facilitated lecture and discussion, video examples, role-playing, and small group case-based learning.