Dell Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences has invested critical resources to support health systems in implementing collaborative care, given its effectiveness in increasing access in primary care.

Collaborative Care Can Help Meet the Increasing Need for Mental Health Care.
The prevalence of mental health disorders is rising; an estimated 1 in 5 Americans have a diagnosable mental health disorder and 1 in 6 have a substance use disorder. Most mental health disorders are treated in the primary care setting as PCPs are the first place where individuals seek treatment for chronic physical and mental health diagnoses. The Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) is an essential element of primary care transformation as an answer to the ever growing social and economic burden of depression and other behavioral health diagnoses on individuals and the US healthcare system. As the demand for behavioral health services increases. CoCM meets the behavioral health demand where it’s needed the most. Over 1 in 3 Americans receiving medical care have an existing behavioral health diagnosis.
Widespread Impact of Behavioral health Disorders
- Children: 20% of children and young people (ages 3-17) are affected by a developmental, social, or behavioral health disorder.
- Pregnant and post-partum women: 1 in 10 women diagnosed with perinatal depression. Suicide is a leading cause of death within one year of giving birth among Hispanic and non-Hispanic White women
- Adults: 30% of adults have experienced depression in their lifetime, more than 50% higher than data from 10 years ago. The rates of depression in patients receiving medical care are even higher.
The expansion of CoCM into more primary care and outpatient medical settings has the potential to bring measurement and evidenced based psychiatric care to larger populations while developing further strategies for workforce expansion and developing mental health treatments that go beyond traditional one-on-one care.


Why behavioral health care in primary settings?
Most individuals with mental health diagnoses never see a mental health provider. Mental health conditions are treated, often inadequately, within primary care settings (Mitchell 2009, Pence 2012). An abundance of research shows that many, particularly mild to moderate, mental health conditions can be diagnosed and effectively treated in non-psychiatric settings (i.e., primary care) when evidence-based models of care are available.
When it comes to integrated behavioral health models, CoCM is the most evidence-based model and delivering measurement-based-care to effectively treat mild to moderate mental health disorders. More than 100 randomized controlled trials show that CoCM improves access, value, outcomes, and patient and provider experience (Vickers 2013, Gilbody 2006). A Cochrane review reports a 60% increase in response to mental health and substance use treatments (Archer 2012). Additionally, CoCM has been found to reduce markers of chronic disease, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations (Rossom 2017 & Reiss-Brennan 2016). The IMPACT trial reported a 6:1 return on investment for patients (a reduction in total medical spending over the cost of the program) (Unutzer 2008).


Who are we?
Led by Carol L. Alter, MD, the Center for Behavioral Health Collaborative Care addresses the critical, urgent need to improve access to quality health care by working with local, regional, and national health systems to advance successful adoption of the Collaborative Care Model. The Center which includes a team of experts in CoCM, community outreach and implementation scientists provides implementation expertise for primary care providers in our Central Texas community and beyond.