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COMMUNITY CASE STUDY article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Health Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1523369
Colorado Integrated Behavioral Health Plus (CIBH+): Aligning Behavioral Health within a Generalist Approach to Primary Care
Provisionally accepted
Jay H Shore 1,2,3*
Maryann Waugh 4*
Shandra Brown Levy 2
Jacqueline Calderone 1,2 Corey Lyon 2
Jodi Summers Holtrop 2,5 R Mark Gritz 2,6
Vanessa Owen 2
Shannon K McWilliams 1 Frank deGruy 2- 1 Psychiatry, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, United States
- 2 Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, United States
- 3 University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Colorado School of Public Health, Denver, United States
- 4 Family Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, United States
- 5 Adult and Child Center for Outcomes Research and Delivery Science, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, United States
- 6 Colorado Division of Health Care Policy and Research, Denver, United States
As healthcare costs and physician burnout in the U.S. escalate, and the acuity and prevalence of behavioral health issues hit historical highs, it is critically important that we continue to evolve care approaches that can deliver good health and well-being at the population level. Colorado Integrated Behavioral Health Plus (CIBH+) uses a whole-person health perspective, aligning psychologists, primary care physicians, and other specialists, within a generalist approach to primary care. Here, we document our local experience in services delivery, including the rationale for the CIBH+ approach, key implementation elements, and the ability to mitigate population, patient, and provider challenge by building upon existing clinically-and cost-effective models of integrated care. With this description, we hope to spark optimism, enthusiasm, and ongoing innovation in other multidisciplinary care teams seeking ways to improve patient and provider experience.
Keywords: integrated care approach, Psychology, multidiscipliary team, Primary Care, comprehensive healthcare, Mental Health, generalism, General Practice
Received: 05 Nov 2024; Accepted: 27 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shore, Waugh, Levy, Calderone, Lyon, Holtrop, Gritz, Owen, McWilliams and deGruy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jay H Shore, Psychiatry, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, United States
Maryann Waugh, Family Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, United States
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.