What is the Collaborative Care Model (CoCM)?

The Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) is an evidence-based Integrated Behavioral Health (IBH) clinical model, with its own set of CMS billing codes, designed to increase access to behavioral health support and improve patient outcomes. It’s a specific model of integrated care, involving a PCP, Care Manager, and a Consulting Psych Provider.

Solving the mental health crisis

With access to behavioral health care a continued issue in the United States, primary care providers (PCPs) are increasingly expected to diagnose and treat mental health concerns, with as many as 50% percent of all behavioral health disorders being treated solely in primary care (source).

Leading health organizations have identified behavioral health integration (BHI), through models like the Collaborative Care Model (CoCM), essential to addressing this issue.

CoCM is a team-based approach to healthcare that involves a group of healthcare providers working together to deliver comprehensive and coordinated care to patients.

THE COLLABORATIVE CARE MODEL

The Collaborative Care Glossary

The Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) is an innovative and evidence-based clinical model that looks different depending on the population you serve, however, these are the three key players required in CoCM. If you don’t have access to Care Managers or Consulting Psychiatrists, Mirah partners with Staffing Partners that can provide them for your program.

PRIMARY CARE PROVIDER (PCP)

Medical provider under whom CoCM billing occurs.

CARE MANAGER (BHCM)

Mental health professional responsible for engaging with patients, coordinating care, and delivering brief behavioral interventions.

CONSULTING PSYCH PROVIDER

Psychiatrist or other advanced prescriber who participate in weekly meetings to review CoCM caseloads on an ongoing basis.

Benefits of CoCM

Increase access to mental health care

It’s no secret that accessing mental health treatment can be weeks - or even months! - long. With CoCM, you can offer quick access to support when patients present with mental health concerns.
Improve outcomes for patients

The burden of a mental health condition can exacerbate physical symptoms and conditions. A patient-centric approach, CoCM offers a whole-person perspective proven to help patients feel better, faster.
Generate additional revenue

Collaborative care has a 6:1 ROI for the healthcare system. So, CMS and all major insurance companies have authorized CoCM codes to better compensate you for the time spent treating mental health concerns.
Monitor treatment effectiveness

Mirah's platform enables care teams to regularly measure symptoms and outcomes, allowing you to monitor the effectiveness of treatment and make adjustments as needed.
Increase provider satisfaction

Built-in support for patients with behavioral health needs means PCPs save critical time. PCPs also enjoy additional benefits like hared learning and the ability to treat to the top of their licensure.
Reduce overall burden on providers

A multi-disciplinary care team relieves administrative burden on PCPs around documentation, follow-ups, and supporting other essential elements of care, such as concerns around social determinants of health.

Let’s demystify collaborative care

You’ve got questions? We’ve got answers.
Here are some frequently asked questions around collaborative care.

Collaborative care is an evidence and research-based behavioral health model that integrates primary care, care management, and consulting psychiatry. Collaborative care models break down silos between primary care and behavioral health by enabling routine mental health screening of all patients, on-site behavioral health support, and coordination across other systems – including schools, specialty care, and outside behavioral health services.
The Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) has benefits on both sides of the patient-clinician relationship. The model significantly improves access to care – especially for those with social determinants of health challenges – and reduces the burden placed on primary care providers to address the mental health needs of their patients.
Learn more about the Collaborative Care Model from the American Psychiatric Association »
The Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) is a data-driven model that incorporates the use of validated screening tools to identify behavioral health needs and track change over time and measure response to treatment – similar to how medical providers use lab results in everyday practice.
The patient registry is a core component of CoCM, offering a centralized location for care managers to triage and prioritize patients individually and across a population. Within the registry care managers can view demographics, track patient engagement, and monitor progress and current status of everyone currently enrolled in collaborative care.
Despite the declared State of Emergency for youth mental health, the majority of integrated care programs target the adult population. Effective intervention for youth requires caregiver (and sometimes teacher or school) involvement. Pediatric integrated care workflows must als vary by age and stage of development – meaning how you assess the needs of a four-year-old differs significantly from that of a fourteen-year-old.
Mirah’s collaborative care solution readily and seamlessly tailors to each enrolled patient’s age and stage of development by showing unique treatment targets across all enrolled patients within the same registry.
Additionally, the Mirah platform is built upon its existing industry-leading measurement-based care technology. Success with collaborative care is limited by the quality of measurement. Using Mirah’s robust library of hundreds of measures, including several specific to pediatrics, providers can dig in when more information is needed to truly optimize treatment to meet individual patient needs. Further, measures support responses from patients, providers, caregivers, and (for children and adolescents) even educational professionals to provide an unparalleled level of detail into a patient's progress in treatment.
Uniquely equipped, the platform takes the burden off parents/kids by enabling the care team to coordinate across all systems, including with schools, to create a shared care plan with a whole child lens.
We recommend the Behavioral Health Integration Compendium by the BHI Collective, an independent collection of leading health organizations.
For those interested in child and adolescent-specific information, we recommend the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute Report: Improving Behavioral Health Care for Youth Through Collaborative Care Expansion.