Collaborative Care Explained

Collaborative Care is a healthcare philosophy and movement focussed on a systematised way of managing care and treatment for people with chronic conditions. Related ideas include: Integrated care, Primary Care Behavioral Health, Integrated care systems, and shared care. There are many studies establishing the long-term clinical and cost-effectiveness of collaborative care for people with physical–mental comorbidity. Nearly half of all people with a diagnosable mental health problem also have a long-term physical condition.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) published an overview of many different models and the research that supports them in 2008.^[1] The key features of Collaborative Care models are:

• Integration of mental health professionals in primary care medical settings
• Close collaboration between mental health and medical/nursing providers
• Focus on treating the person and family.

Four key components were identified by Ramanju and Pincus in 2019:

• a multiprofessional approach to patient care;
• a structured management plan tailored to the individual needs of the patient;
• proactive follow-up delivering evidence-based treatments;
• processes to enhance interprofessional communication such as routine and regular team meetings and/or shared records.^[2]

According to Shivam Shah collaborative care is a form of systematic team-based care involving:

• A case manager responsible for the coordination of different components of care;
• A structured care management plan, shared with the patient;
• Systematic patient management based on protocols and the tracking of outcomes;
• Delivery of care by a multidisciplinary team which includes a psychiatrist;
• Collaboration between primary and secondary care.^[3]

There are organisations in many countries promoting these ideas such as the American Collaborative Family Healthcare Association, a multi-guild member association based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, which supports healthcare professionals in integrating physical and behavioral health.^[4] The University of Washington has an Advancing Integrated Mental Health Solutions Center, founded by Jürgen Unützer, to promote primary care behavioral health.^[5]

The Coalition for Collaborative Care was established in England in 2014. It focuses on re-framing the relationship between a person with long-term health conditions and the professionals supporting them.^[6]

See also

Integrated care

Notes and References

1. Butler M, Kane RL, McAlpine D, Kathol, RG, Fu SS, Hagedorn H, Wilt TJ. Integration of Mental Health/Substance Abuse and Primary Care No. 173 (Prepared by the Minnesota Evidence-based Practice Center under Contract No. 290-02-0009.) AHRQ Publication No. 09-E003. Rockville, MD. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. October 2008.
2. Ramanju . Parashar . Pincus . Harold . Collaborative care: enough of the why; what about the how? . British Journal of Psychiatry . 26 April 2019 . 215 . 4 . 573–576 . 10.1192/bjp.2019.99 . 31025616 . 133607267 . free .
3. News: Shah . Shivam . An Exploration into Core Tenets, Fidelity, and Policy . 12 November 2022 . Centre for Mental Health . 22 January 2018.
4. Web site: Workers Compensation Doctors . Compensation Doctors . 30 May 2023.
5. News: WHO WE ARE . 12 November 2022 . University of Washington . 2022.
6. News: New alliance in social care and health launched . 12 November 2022 . NHS England . 21 November 2014.