Behavioral Health Integration Program
The Behavioral Health Integration (BHI) Program helps people get effective and efficient care for mental and behavioral health problems through primary care providers. Started in 2010, the program provides training and materials to primary care offices throughout the MaineHealth system, including Maine Behavioral Healthcare.
Program Description
The aim of Behavioral Health Integration is to improve healthcare connections for patients between mental/behavioral and medical care. To assist Primary Care and Specialty Medical Practices in screening for, diagnosing, and managing patients and families with behavioral health issues, conditions, and disorders, BHI facilitates a standardized and supportive, team-based approach: Providers and office staff collaborate with care managers and behavioral health clinicians to implement individualized strategies for patients and their families.
- Patients will receive comprehensive healthcare in their medical care settings, which will include attention to both physical and emotional health. Care will be offered by an integrated team consisting of a medical care provider, clinical staff, a care manager and on-site behavioral health clinician(s).
- Patients will receive services in the most appropriate setting possible, determined by patient preference and clinical need. The integrated care team will link patients to specialty behavioral health services in the community. Communication and coordination between medical and behavioral healthcare will lead to high-quality care.
- The healthcare payment system will make integrated mental health services sustainable. Rules about how insurance companies and others pay for healthcare will be changed to remove current barriers to working together. This will include payment for care coordination.
Our Guiding Principles include:
- Patients will receive comprehensive healthcare in their medical care settings, which will include attention to both physical and emotional health. Care will be offered by an integrated team consisting of a medical care provider, clinical staff, a care manager and on-site behavioral health clinician(s).
- Patients will receive services in the most appropriate setting possible, determined by patient preference and clinical need. The integrated care team will link patients to specialty behavioral health services in the community. Communication and coordination between medical and behavioral healthcare will lead to high-quality care.
- The healthcare payment system will make integrated mental health services sustainable. Rules about how insurance companies and others pay for healthcare will be changed to remove current barriers to working together. This will include payment for care coordination.
Behavioral Health Integration staffs and supervises behavioral/mental health clinicians in Primary Care Practices and Specialty Medical Care settings, in order to provide brief behavioral/mental health treatment for those practices’ patients. Behavioral Health Clinicians facilitate patient access to higher levels of psychological/psychiatric care and/or social services as appropriate.
Mary Jean Mork, LCSW
Vice President
morkm@mmc.org
Stacey Ouellette, LCSW
Director
souellette@MaineBehavioralHealthcare.org
Terah Ames, LCSW, LADC, CCS
Program Manager
TAmes@mainebehavioralhealthcare.org
Stephanie Field, LCSW
Program Manager
stephanie.field@lchcare.org
Karen Fisher, LCSW
Program Manager
KFisher1@mmc.org
Amy Roberts, LCSW, CCS
Program Manager
robera@mmc.org
Celeste Green
Program Coordinator
greenc3@mainehealth.org
About the Guidelines
The clinical guidelines and policies on this page assist clinicians in standardizing the evaluation, diagnosis, and care of patients, with the goal of achieving optimal outcomes. The guidelines translate national recommendations and the best available evidence into local context.
Adherence to these guidelines should limit unwanted or unintended variation in practice, but guidelines are not meant to be prescriptive. The clinician retains the responsibility to select the appropriate guideline for a particular patient and to use the guideline to the extent that it serves the individual patient.
Any given approach must be carefully considered with each individual patient to ensure that an effective Shared Decision Making process is in place, which reflects the patient's personal wishes, medical history, and family history.