Implementing, sustaining, and developing a workforce: pediatric collaborative care

Collaborative care models (CoCMs) improve access to and the quality of behavioral health care in the pediatric primary care setting. At its core, CoCM is a patient-centered service delivery model, although the model also lends itself to robust clinical training that expands the skill sets of pediatric clinicians. Existing CoCMs adapt components of: 1) population-based care for a defined group of patients; 2) patient-centered collaboration; 3) use of evidence-based treatment approaches; 4) use of measurement-based “treatment to target”; and 5) accountable care based on setting elements. Despite being an effective model of patient care and a pathway to behavioral health workforce development, pediatric CoCMs are less well studied than adult CoCM and there are more structural barriers to implementing CoCM in pediatric primary care settings. This presentation was developed to describe training opportunities inherent in the CoCM and real-world implementations of a sustainable CoCM in pediatric primary care.