Integrating primary care into public mental health : Implementation lessons

This session comprises papers that describe the recent implementation of PRICARe – Promoting Resources for Integrated Care and Recovery in Denver's public mental health system. Necessary to integration of services is the collaboration of primary care and mental health care partners. Funded by the Colorado Health Foundation, PRICARe is a collaborative project of Colorado Access (Denver's Behavioral Health Medicaid Contractor), the Mental Health Center of Denver (MHCD) and the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado Denver. This presentation focuses on the achievement and lessons learned in the implementation of this collaborative service delivery. The first paper describes the PRICARe model, an overview of the implementation process and its program characteristics as implemented. The following three papers present the specific challenges, accomplishments, and lessons learned from the collaborating perspectives. Subsequent to the descriptive papers from the perspectives of the evaluators and staff, discussants with the perspective of MHCD consumers who have participated in the integrated primary care will reflect on the presentations and provide their perceptions of how consumers have experienced this newly established model of integrated care. Abstract numbers: 221778, Demmler; 221591, Williams; 221694, Martin; and 221640, Clark.