Explication of a Behavioral Health-Primary Care Integration Learning Collaborative and Its Quality Improvement Implications

In an effort to tackle fragmented care in the US healthcare delivery system, we explored the use of learning collaborative (LC) to advance integration of behavioral health and primary care as one of the potential solutions to a holistic approach to the delivery of quality healthcare to individuals with physical and mental illness. How a diverse group of primary care and behavioral health providers formed a Community of Practice (CoP) with a common purpose and shared vision to advance integrated care using a LC approach is described. An account of their learning experience, key components of their quality improvement, practice changes, clinical processes, and improved outcomes are explained. This paper aims at describing the history, creative design, processes, roles of the CoP and impact of the LC on the advancement of integrated care practice and quality improvements for further exploration and replications.