Why Do Leaders Need This Course?

The rapid development of behavioral health integration around the nation in health systems with multiple primary care sites has led to the emergence of a new role: “director,” or “supervisor,” or “lead” of behavioral health integration (BHI). A number of people in this role feel unprepared for the demands that it imposes. They have risen to leadership positions on their clinical skills, but they have little training or experience in management and leadership in an organization.  The new leaders find themselves needing to address issues such as hiring and onboarding, staff evaluations, design of program and patient metrics, data reporting and quality improvement, and helping health system authorities understand how much behavioral health services can add to the effectiveness and efficiency of the healthcare services of the organization as a whole. 

This course, led by Dr. Alexander (Sandy) Blount, a long-time leader in the field, is a unique opportunity to receive mentorship, peer support and skill development for the clinician-leader.

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Alexander Blount Ed.D.

Alexander Blount Ed.D.

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Alexander Blount, Ed.D., is a Professor Emeritus of Family Medicine and Community Health at UMass Chan Medical School, where he founded the Center for Integrated Primary Care (CIPC), the oldest and largest Web-based training program in behavioral health integration. He also is President of Integrated Primary Care, Inc., a firm offering consultation and training to organizations wishing to begin or improve behavioral health integration and patient-centered care. Dr. Blount has been practicing as a clinician, trainer, administrator, author, teacher, and consultant for more than 45 years. He has been a behavioral health clinician in primary care for 20 of those years. His books include Integrated Primary Care: The Future of Medical and Mental Health Collaboration, published by W. W. Norton, and Patient-Centered Primary Care, published by Springer. In addition, he has published over 20 articles and chapters on Behavioral Health Integration, as well as developing resources websites in Integrated Primary Care, Team-Based Care, and Workforce Development. He is past president of CFHA, recipient of the Don Bloch Award, and past editor of Families, Systems, & Health, the Journal of Collaborative Family Healthcare.

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Continuing Education Information

The course will meet every other week for a calendar year (23 meetings) via Zoom. 37.50 CEUS for psychologists or social workers.

In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by Amedco LLC and Alexander Blount, EdD. Amedco LLC is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Psychologists

Amedco LLC designates this activity for a maximum of 37.50 psychologist contact hours.

Social Workers

As a Jointly Accredited Organization, Amedco is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. Amedco maintains responsibility for this course. Social workers completing this course receive 37.50 general continuing education credits.

Primary Care Behavioral Health[1] Leadership Competencies Promoted by the Course

1. Communication:  Able to convincingly articulate how PCBH works in primary care and the benefits it offers, able to write and speak fluently about the work, able to design and plan strategies for conveying these descriptions effectively to professional and patient audiences, within and outside the organization.
2. Team Building:  Able to foster the building and sustaining of effective healthcare, management, and community teams.  Can create opportunities for patients to participate in their healthcare teams.  Effective as a team member and team leader.
3. Planning and Prioritizing:  Setting priorities; Establishing work plans; Applying decision analysis techniques; Designing programs, and strategic, business, and work plans
4. Assessing Performance:  Able to engage superiors and subordinates in a set of metrics to assess staff performance, program performance, and patient outcomes. Able to set up timely access to results and processes to make data support self-correcting steps built on clear understandings of strengths and successes.
5. Problem-solving:  Able to identify and define problems in ways that promote engagement of others in solutions; Able to conceptualize systemic factors that support or militate against resolution. Able to design corrections and define who should carry out those corrections. 
6. Nurturing Growth and Innovation:  Able to work from models that highlight staff and patient strengths and successes, uses planful delegation to staff, can build partnerships with patients.
7. Leading:  Articulates to superiors, subordinates, and peers the crucial role of PCBH in successful primary care, of primary care in healthcare, and of healthcare in social justice and equity.   Imparts a sense of the contribution each can make and has made in moving closer to the vision of optimum health and healthcare.

[1] Primary Care Behavioral Health is the name for a general type of service and for one model of that service.  In this case, we denote the general service.