Practical Applications of Implementing Integrated Mental Health Practices With Primary Care Providers

Community Health Advanced by Medical Practice Superstars is a 1-year, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)-funded fellowship for early career physicians and physician assistants/associates to become primary care transformational leaders. Fellows implement practice-based health care transformation projects in one of the three HRSA priority areas: childhood obesity, mental health, and opioid use disorder. The purpose of these projects is to expand on integrated health in primary care settings where there is a shortage of mental health professionals. The fellows identified areas in which they were able to incorporate mental health care provision to improve diagnostic capacity and whole health delivery, facilitate appropriate behavioral health outcomes, and improve patient physical health outcomes. Project modalities included initiating or increasing behavioral health screenings, aligning screenings with patient outcomes, and coordinating behavioral health care with physical health care. This article describes six mental health-related health care practice transformation projects implemented across rural health care settings, including Federally Qualified Health Centers and academic medical centers. The topics included (a) depression in pregnant and postpartum mothers; (b) adverse childhood experiences screening; (c) depression and chronic disease outcomes, especially diabetes; (d) the use of automated enhancements in patients' electronic medical records for management of clinical depression; (e) improving health outcomes and medication adherence of patients with opioid use disorder; and (f) the (in)adequacy of the Patient Health Questionairre-2 (PHQ-2) for the assessment of depression among patients with diabetes. Clinical specialties included family medicine, pediatrics, and women's health.