IHI 90-Day R&D Project Final Summary Report: Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care. Cambridge, MA: Institute for Healthcare Improvement; March 2014.

Organizations are increasingly realizing that achieving the Triple Aim for populations in a geographic area without an integrated behavioral health strategy is virtually impossible. Organizations looking to reduce their costs will find that behavioral health issues are frequently comorbid with other chronic conditions among their high-cost (and high-risk/high-need) patients.

This IHI 90-day R&D project report examines the basic principles underlying existing, exemplary integration models and integrated organizations, identifies the core components required for success, and assesses how (or if) they are operationalized by each of the different models. The aim is to understand the core principles underlying successful integration of behavioral health services into primary care. The report includes discussion of:

• Integration levels and approaches
• Integration models and core components
• Barriers to integration and proposed solutions
• A proposed approach for implementing integrated care
• Areas of innovation for potential future study