The Business Case for Bidirectional Integrated Care

The Integration Policy Initiative (IPI) was a collaborative project, led by the California Institute for Mental Health (CiMH), the California Primary Care Association (CPCA) and the Integrated Behavioral Health Project (IBHP). Participants in the IPI project coalesced around a vision: Overall health and wellness is embraced as a shared community responsibility 

They also agreed that to achieve individual and population health and wellness (physical, mental, social /emotional / developmental and spiritual health), healthcare services for the whole person (physical, mental and substance use healthcare) must be seamlessly integrated, planned for and provided through collaboration at every level of the healthcare system, as well as coordinated with the supportive capacities within each community. Ten principles were articulated, as well as a service continuum for planning local capacity, and a series of recommendations were adopted to support the vision, principles and continuum. The recommendations included:

Develop the business case for integration (with an emphasis on the safety net system) while acknowledging the role of specialty services within MH/SU and health care. This business case paper is intended for use by audiences who share the desire to simultaneously accomplish the three critical healthcare objectives of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Triple Aim:

• Improve the health of the population
• Enhance the patient experience of care (including quality, access, and reliability)
• Reduce, or at least control, the per capita cost of total healthcare

Audiences likely to have a deeply vested interest in each of these areas of concern include, but are not limited to:

• Directors, Medical Directors, and senior clinical leadership of Mental Health and Substance Use Treatment Programs 
• Directors and Medical Directors of Federally Qualified Health Centers, Community Health Centers, Rural Health Clinics and other primary care providers
• Statewide and local Mental Health and Substance Use organizations advocating to reduce health disparities
• Health Plans, especially those serving the Medi-Cal population 
• Local Level Policy Officials 
• State Level Policy Officials