Project Summary
Patient-centered outcomes research/clinical effectiveness research (PCOR/CER) can inform and help improve shared decision making (SDM), a key intervention to make the healthcare system more responsive to patient needs and preferences and to improve outcomes. However, SDM has not been widely embraced in behavioral health care, which incorporates mental, emotional, and social well-being. This could be due to time constraints often seen in behavioral health care, stigma around mental illness, power dynamics between patients and clinicians, or a lack of patient trust.
With PCORI’s support, PCC plans to host a roundtable to leverage the relationships it has in the BH/PC space—including consumer groups, diverse clinicians, and payers—as well as the organization’s knowledge of how to engage patients and clinicians in SDM. The roundtable will identify barriers and enablers to SDM in BH, including for vulnerable populations, in order to develop recommendations on how to increase its prevalence.
Objectives for this work include convening leaders to discuss what is, and is not, working with SDM approaches informed by PCORI-funded research and other seminal studies; exploring what the enablers and barriers to SDM are in the BH space and creating recommendations based on this information; and providing diverse stakeholders with the opportunity to connect and collaborate with one another on how to move SDM forward in behavioral health. PCC also intends to help to inform future research agendas of PCORI and others related to SDM in BH, and produce a webinar and related communications that can be disseminated to the broader behavioral health and primary care communities to increase knowledge and uptake of evidence-based SDM practices.
In short, this roundtable will be informed by PCORI-funded studies, PCC’s own work in SDM, and input from key leaders including, and beyond, PCC’s existing workgroup on BH-PC integration. PCC will collaborate with key BH-PC partners to craft a memo highlighting barriers, enablers, and actionable recommendations for better SDM uptake among patients with BH needs and to inform future research. A PCC webinar and related communications will broadly disseminate the roundtable’s findings and recommendations to BH-PC communities and will be posted on the PCC website.
In the short term, the PCORI award will enable PCC to strategize and plan for a convening through its BH Integration Workgroup. PCC will develop recommendations along with a webinar and other communication strategies to summarize and share the roundtable’s findings. Over the long term, PCC hopes that the recommendations and related research will increase the uptake and efficacy of SDM and strengthen relationships between patients and their care team, while also improving quality of care.
PCC will engage diverse stakeholders in the planning of this workshop through its existing Behavioral Health Integration Workgroup, which includes behavioral health clinicians, payers, purchasers, and patient advocacy groups. PCC anticipates inviting additional patient groups and stakeholders to the roundtable but intends to keep the number of participants to a manageable number so that the project team can foster exchange, input, and engagement.
PCC will collaborate with the co-chairs of the BHI workgroup, including leaders from Anthem, the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.