Primary Care and Behavioral Health Provider Communication: Strategy for Improvement

Abstract

Limited communication between primary care and behavioral health providers was identified as a barrier to access care and effective collaborative care of patients seeking behavioral health treatment in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska. A 1-group, pretest–posttest design, quality improvement project was created to develop and implement a standardized communication template to facilitate communication and collaboration between behavioral health and primary care providers in the project group. Relational coordination within the group as a whole improved 11.07% from pre- to postintervention. Significant cultural differences, most notably in understanding the application of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, were identified between the 2 provider types.