The Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care recently announced that six primary care practices will introduce a new program for behavioral health integration as part of the Center’s Academic Innovations Collaborative (AIC). The Alice Rosenwald Initiative: Improving Lives through Mental Health Integration into Primary Care is designed to implement a new stepped care model that integrates mental health expertise into the Center’s AIC sites.
The project will launch in two phases, with year one focusing on implementing a team-based stepped care approach for depression, integrating mental health professionals into teams, and creating a technological platform for telemedicine and videoconferencing within the practice. The inaugural six sites are the first rounds of grantees and the remaining AIC sites will have an opportunity to apply a year later.
More information on Harvard’s AIC can be found here. As well as a related story from the New Yorker.