Behavioral-Physical Health Integration

QC recognizes the need for healthcare providers to address both behavioral and physical health issues, and to better integrate the behavioral and physical healthcare needs of patients in order to improve health and healthcare.  QC has been funded by the Maine Health Access Foundation (MeHAF) to promote behavioral-physical health integration by leading an effort to develop and implement a set of performance measures reflecting behavioral health integration. In partnership with Aroostook Mental Health Services, QC recently completed a 1-year pilot project to identify and test a set of integration measures, and is now beginning a 3-year initiative to expand this effort to behavioral and physical health providers statewide. The goal of this "Behavioral Health Metrics System" initiative is to identify a set of measures of behavioral health integration that ultimately will be widely used and publicly reported by providers statewide to drive improvements in behavioral-physical health integration, much as physical health measures are currently reported through the Pathways to Excellence program.