Increasing access to behavioral health care for underserved populations: A 10 year process

Over the past 10 years, Delaware Valley Community Health (DVCH) has worked to improve access to behavioral health care for the 25,000 individuals treated annually at two urban Federally Qualified Community Health Centers (FQHCs). This presentation will examine the evolution of this process beginning with an initial effort to improve depression screening and referral of primary care patients; moving to the co-location of traditional behavioral health practitioners within the primary care setting; and, finally, to the current model of integration known as Behavioral Health Consultation (BHC). In this model the behavioral health provider works side by side with the primary care provider (PCP) as a consultant on behavioral health issues. This approach makes behavioral health services accessible to a far larger population and relieves the pressure on the PCP who often feels ill-prepared and has limited time to effectively treat patients with behavioral health issues. The presenters will introduce the core components of the BHC model and its implementation. We will compare our experience with the referral, co-location and BHC models, discuss the conditions that enabled the shift in practice, and provide data showing the increase in program utilization and revenue.