Screening and Assessment in Integrated Primary Care Settings

Most behavioral health care occurs within primary care settings. Increasingly, behavioral health providers are integrating into these settings to enhance the ability of medical providers to assess and treat behavioral health concerns. Compared to specialty care, primary care is optimized, in part through brief appointments, to provide care to a larger proportion of the population. Behavioral health integration models, such as the Primary Care Behavioral Health model, require behavioral health providers to adapt to the environmental demands of primary care and focus on providing targeted brief screenings and assessments to quickly identify presenting concerns. In this chapter, we discuss the special considerations for conducting screenings and assessments in primary care and describe brief and targeted measures appropriate for this environment.