Social workers are flexible employees with a wide variety of skills that can be adapted to fit complex and highly integrated healthcare settings. Many integrated health teams have benefited from the involvement of social workers, but little research has been conducted that examines the roles that social workers perform in these settings. This brief describes…
The expansion of access to treatment and preventative services has led to an increase in interprofessional healthcare teams. Integrating social workers onto these teams requires that all members of the team understand what roles and functions social workers can bring to the table. This article describes a case of a social worker on an interprofessional…
In primary care settings, social workers are increasingly helping to deliver care as part of integrated teams of professionals. However, little is known about the functions of these interprofessional teams that include social workers and the value that social workers bring to those teams. This article describes a systematic review of randomized controlled trials to…
Social workers are now doing more of their work in integrated health settings that require them to perform a variety of different roles and skills. As these settings are often more complex, the roles that social workers perform in them is not well understood. This article describes a study which utilized an online survey of…
Co-location of physical and behavioral health is important to integrated care as it facilitates provider communication and continuity of care. However, given the increases in behavioral health and integrated care, our understanding of factors associated with co-location is outdated. This brief describes an update to a past study conducted in 2010 that examined co-location data…
Because 60–80% of all primary care visits include a behavioral health component, providing integrated services in primary care is now considered a priority for health systems as they strive to meet patient needs and improve population health. Integrated care typically involves behavioral healthcare workers such as social workers and psychologists working on teams with primary care…
Providing integrated behavioral health services in primary care is now considered a priority for health systems as 60–80% of all primary care visits include a behavioral health component. Integrated care typically involves behavioral healthcare workers, such as social workers and psychologists, working on teams with primary care providers to help address behavioral health and social…
More social workers in primary care clinics now work as part of integrated behavioral healthcare (IBH) teams. Understanding how many of these social workers are co-located with primary care physicians is important to ensure that planning and training align with current models of care. This article described a review of the data on social worker…
As one of the largest groups of clinically trained mental health providers in the United States, social workers are increasingly deployed on integrated health teams to address patients’ social determinants of health and provide behavioral health interventions. However, information about the specific content of social work practice in new models of healthcare is limited, and…
Evidence supports that integrated behavioral health care improves patient outcomes. Colocation, where health and behavioral health providers work in the same physical space, is a key element of integration, but national rates of colocation are unknown. This article establishes national colocation rates and analyzes variation by primary care provider (PCP) type, practice size, rural/urban setting,…
