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Jun 13, 2025
Last month, MAMH co-hosted – with our friends at the Massachusetts Health Policy Forum – a forum on collaborative care.
The Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) is an evidence-based model of integrating behavioral health care with primary care to produce better health, provide lifesaving care for patients, and cost savings for systems. With support from the Bowman Family Foundation and The Goodness Web, we were able to bring together nearly 200 primary care and behavioral health practice leaders, health insurance and care system leaders, and public policymakers.
Panelists discuss collaborative care during this May's Philip W. Johnston Massachusetts Health Policy Forum.
The forum opened with remarks from Senator Julian Cyr, MPP, and others. To give attendees a better sense of benefits of the CoCM, Virna Little, PsyD, MBA, a leading practitioner and research scientist, presented the persuasive research data on the effectiveness of collaborative care. This was followed by a panel of Massachusetts experts facilitated by Michael Curry, JD, that included the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services Undersecretary Kiame Mahaniah, MD, MBA; Mass General Brigham Medical Director for Behavioral Health Trina Chang, MD, MPH; Beth Israel Lahey Health Chair of Psychiatry/Director of Behavioral Health Integration Patrick Aquino, MD; and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Senior Director for Behavioral Health Gregory Harris, MD, MPH. The panel discussed the application of research on collaborative care in clinical settings, the experience with improved patient care, and the tasks involved in implementing the practice.
Caption Audience questions and panel responses during the Philip W. Johnston Massachusetts Health Policy Forum.
The CoCM is a low-cost, evidence-based approach to integrating treatment for many commonly occurring mental health and substance use disorders, such as depression and anxiety, into primary care settings.
Under the model, the primary care clinician manages behavioral health for patients as a population. Patients are screened for behavioral health conditions. Those who meet clinical criteria are invited to enroll in CoCM. Primary care clinicians work with behavioral care managers, virtually or onsite, to offer evidence-based treatments. Treatment plans include measurable clinical goals and patient goals. Patient outcomes are measured and tracked in a registry. Treatment plans are regularly adjusted for patients who are not improving as expected, with support from a psychiatric consultant.
MAMH will continue to educate, mobilize, and advocate to bring collaborative care to more integrated primary care practices and their patients in Massachusetts.
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