Since its inception, the Collaborative Care Model has had numerous benefits. Traditionally, mental health patients were referred to specialists for treatment purposes, but the stigma surrounding mental health care prevented them from doing so. Today, patients can seek mental health care within primary care settings, thanks to the integrated nature of the Collaborative Care Model. This has significantly minimised the stigma associated with seeking mental health treatment across populations.
The Collaborative Care Model has enhanced patient outcomes through the partnership of various health practitioners. Collaboration means multiple physicians give input regarding your treatment, minimising the chances of miscommunication. A 2020 study shows that collaborative care enhances patient outcomes, with 50% of minority patients experiencing improved outcomes.
To enjoy the benefits of this model, however, it’s recommended that you seek the services of professionals. They’re not only able to break down the core elements of collaborative care, but they’re also better equipped with the necessary resources to get the job done.
There’s so much to learn about the Collaborative Care Model, and this article will break it down for you.
Understanding Collaborative Care Model
The Collaborative Care Model is an integrated approach to healthcare that combines general and behavioural medical practices. The model also involves various health practitioners, including your primary care physician, mental health practitioners, and other specialists.
The goal of the Collaborative Care Model is to provide patients with care that enables them to achieve their clinical goals. In this model, the primary care physician collaborates with other healthcare providers to deliver quality care to patients. Health practitioners also provide their medical opinion, which promotes good communication and minimises the risk of misdiagnosis. Similarly, multiple perspectives from a collaborative care team allow the primary physician to make an informed decision when formulating individual treatment plans.
The key features of the Collaborative Care Model include the following:
- Collaborative Care
One key feature of the Collaborative Care Model is the involvement of more than one healthcare professional. For example, in this arrangement, your primary care provider works with behavioural specialists and mental health professionals to improve your clinical outcome.
- Effective Communication
Effective communication is another key aspect of this model. The need for collaboration establishes better communication between members of the care team. The shared care plans further promote efficient communication, which contributes to quality patient care and patient outcomes.
- More Comprehensive Care
The Collaborative Care Model boasts comprehensive care. Each care team member contributes their medical perspective to fulfil the patient's needs. Their perspectives combined not only offer more comprehensive care but also improve how this care is delivered.
- Enhanced Patient Experiences And Reduced Readmissions
Further, the Collaborative Care Model’s ability to improve patient experiences and quality of care through interprofessional collaboration is worth noting. When multiple professionals are involved in forming a diagnosis and treating a patient, lasting care is provided. In addition, the outcome is reduced readmission rates since the chances of a misdiagnosis when multiple professionals are involved are minimal.
Core Elements Of The Collaborative Care Model
The Collaborative Care Model is defined by five core elements: accountable care, evidence-based care, measurement-based treatment to target, patient-centred team care, and population-based care. Below is a discussion of each of these elements.
- Accountable Care
The Collaborative Care Model promotes accountability among healthcare providers. This is because the model requires healthcare professionals to be compensated based on the quality of care and patient outcomes, as opposed to the amount of care delivered.
For example, if your primary care physician suspects you have an underlying medical condition, they don't need to refer you to a specialist. Instead, all they need to do is consult a mental health professional to determine the best form of care for you. Nonetheless, you don’t need to make separate payments to both professionals, which is why this setup is referred to as accountable care.
- Evidence-Based Care
The Collaborative Care Model promotes evidence-based treatment. This involves using credible, current, relevant, and valid evidence to make healthcare decisions and develop patient-centred treatment plans. An example is using psychotherapy treatment options whose effectiveness has been proven, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) or problem-solving therapy (PST).
Incorporating evidence-based care ensures that patient outcomes are measurable. Consequently, using credible and valid evidence enhances these outcomes. In addition, evidence-based care enhances the confidence of clinical teams regarding the efficacy of their treatment efforts. This also results in improved patient outcomes, which promote cost-effectiveness.
- Measurement-Based Treatment To Target
Under the Collaborative Care Model, healthcare professionals tailor treatment plans according to the needs of individual patients. This means that the clinical goals and outcomes of each patient differ. These clinical outcomes are measured using various evidence-based tools.
Constantly measuring symptoms enables healthcare professionals to assess their patients' responses to treatment. The measurement also helps the collaborative care team differentiate between the symptoms that are improving and those that aren't.
Under the Collaborative Care Model, the clinical team regularly evaluates patients' responses to their treatment plan to track progress. For example, if the patient's symptoms haven’t been reduced by at least 50% over a period of 10 to 12 weeks, the collaborative care team makes adjustments to the treatment plan.
If a patient was initially prescribed medication, adjustments may involve increasing the dosage or recommending evidence-based psychotherapy in addition to the medication. Overall, the regular measurement of symptoms and modification of treatment plans are the reason behind improved outcomes under the Collaborative Care Model.
- Patient-Centred Team Care
Under the Collaborative Care Model, clinical teams utilize shared care plans to enable them to collaborate more efficiently. The collaborative care team comprises a primary care provider, behavioural health specialists, and mental health professionals. This team ensures that patients receive both physical and mental health care in primary care. Consequently, this enables patients to get value for their money while cutting back on expenses and experiencing improved health outcomes.
For starters, the Collaborative Care Model minimises the duplicity of assessments, enabling patients to save on costs. Additionally, the model is based on accountable care, where patients pay for quality care. Overall, the model is designed to help patients enjoy improved health outcomes and better healthcare experiences—an indication of its patient-centredness.
- Population-Based Care
Care teams are responsible for a defined patient population in the Collaborative Care Model. This population is tracked via a registry to ensure no patient is forgotten. In addition, having a defined population makes it easy for care teams to track patient progress on a weekly basis. Subsequently, this enables them to identify patients who aren't responding positively to treatment to make the necessary adjustments.
Population-based care enables care teams to identify patterns and trends among a variety of patients for analysis. Consequently, this information helps the teams recognise gaps in the healthcare system and develop effective measures to address them. The data is also crucial in enhancing system-wide interventions and legal policies to promote population health.
How A Collaborative Care Model Works
A primary care doctor is in charge of a collaborative team, which comprises licensed behavioural health specialists and mental health professionals. The care team uses evidence-based practices to formulate a measurement-based care plan that focuses on a defined patient population. The Collaborative Care Model further promotes accountable care by ensuring patients are charged for the quality of care provided.
To have a better understanding of how this model works, consider the following example.
Assume you've visited a primary care centre seeking treatment for a health condition. Traditionally, you'd first have been examined by a primary care physician. Then, if they concluded an underlying mental condition was causing your physical illness, they'd refer you to a specialist.
Under the Collaborative Care Model, multiple healthcare professionals would participate in your diagnosis and treatment. These include your primary physician, behavioural health specialists, and mental health practitioners. This arrangement prevents you from seeking separate assessments and helps you pay for the quality of care received, as opposed to the amount. As a result, you save time and money.
Once you’ve been treated, the care team will then check up on you regularly to ensure that you’re responding well to the treatment. If your symptoms failed to improve by at least 50%, the team would keep adjusting the treatment plan until you begin to make positive progress.
On the other hand, if your symptoms failed to improve after your treatment plan has been modified several times, your care team would refer you to mental health specialty care. That, however, only happens to a fraction of patients under the Collaborative Care Model.
In Summary
The Collaborative Care Model benefits patients greatly by reducing stigma, improving patient-care outcomes, lowering readmission rates, and minimising medical expenses. The model has five core elements that further promote these benefits. These include accountable care, evidence-based care, measurement-based to target, patient-centred team care, and population-based care. These elements also allow the Collaborative Care Model to function efficiently.
Using evidence-based practices, the collaborative care team formulates measurement-based care plans for a defined patient population. The model promotes accountability through accountable care, whereby patients are charged based on care quality rather than quantity. If you’re interested in tending to your physical and mental health, don’t hesitate to find primary care providers near you that use a Collaborative Care Model.
