The SAMHSA-HRSA Center for Integrated Health Solutions (CIHS) recently hosted the webinar Resources for the New Integrated Healthcare Workforce. The webinar began with Kristin Spykerman, director of health home services at Cherry Street Health Services—the largest federally-qualified health center in Michigan—discussing the preparations involved in forming a fully integrated multi-disciplinary team of staff from three merged organizations. In particular, she noted the learning curve involved (terminology confusion, lack of a uniform documentation system and the challenge of bringing providers of many disciplines together); the importance of cross training team members (e.g., social workers were trained in asthma and diabetes and internists/RNs were trained in substance use disorders); the importance of team building exercises; and valuable lessons learned.
Next, Michael Hoge, Senior Science and Policy Advisory of the Annapolis Coalition on the Behavioral Health Workforce, presented an overview of the method used to develop the recently released Core Competencies for Integrated Behavioral Health and Primary Care, which were developed by a team from the Coalition. He also provided details about the nine competency categories and the specific competencies within each. Hoge concluded by explaining the practical ways in which the Core Competencies can be used—incorporating them into job descriptions, informing recruitment and job applicant interviews, building them into employee orientation, assessing job performance on the competencies, and organizing ongoing training and continuing education to foster staff development on the competencies.
A transcript of the webinar can be found here.
A copy of the Core Competencies for Integrated Behavioral Health and Primary Care can be found here.