State Innovation Model Helps Redefine Behavioral Health in Primary Care Setting

Whole-person health has become a tagline for healthcare providers who integrate behavioral health and primary care. They recognize the need to address a patient’s head and body to achieve the best health outcomes and are changing the way they practice medicine to accommodate that approach.

Juniper Family Medicine, Grand Junction, Colo., is one of 100 practices in the Colorado State Innovation Model (SIM) that is integrating care and testing payment models to sustain those efforts. Since it started down this path, the care team is seeing positive results, including:

• Helping a 10-year-old cope with suicidal inclinations
• Providing counseling services for a grief-stricken patient
• Finding handicap-accessible housing for a patient to avoid homelessness

To learn more, go to Colorado SIM.