This piece was originally published on April 18, 2013. Click here for original post. One of the roles of leadership in a field is being comfortable speaking on behalf of the field. To do that, it helps to have a clear summary that is understandable to someone outside the field. One name […]
What if Prince had a Waivered Family Physician?
This piece was originally posted on the STFM blog. Click here for the original posting. Reprinted here with permission. A Prince in Crisis On April 21, at 9:43 a.m., the Carver County Sheriff’s Office received a 9-1-1 call requesting that paramedics be sent to Paisley Park. The caller initially told the dispatcher that an unidentified […]
The Change Pace Paradox
“Change has never happened this fast before, and it will never be this slow again.”1 Graeme Wood wrote these words to describe the ways social media and technology have redefined communication. The fact that you’re reading a blog right now is example of such change. An increased velocity to change seems […]
News & Research Column
Welcome to the third edition of the CFHA News and Research Column, a new series of posts that highlight recent developments in the field of collaborative and integrated care. Check back in the future for additional reports. NEWS European Countries Designing Large Collaborative Care System Multiple chronic conditions make medical treatment more difficult for physicians. […]
Integrated Care in India
Health care systems across the globe are integrating mental health services into primary care. Click here for last week’s post on collaborative care in Israel. Recently, Dr. Manjunatha from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in Bangalore, India, wrote a report for the Lancet describing an ambitious program to integrate mental health […]
Collaborative Care in Israel
Health care systems across the globe are integrating mental health services into primary care. Recently, Dr. Ohad Avny and colleagues from Clalilt Health Services and Talbieh Psychiatric Clinic affiliated with Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical School in Jerusalem, Israel, completed a literature review of collaborative care models in Israel and other countries. In the article, the […]
Caring for the underserved: Identifying the benefits for patients, families, and ourselves
About 90% of my clinical practice is focused on caring for the underserved: The young, The old, Those suffering from chronic medical illness, now unemployed, Those without a home to go to at the end of the day, Those with a home but without any furniture or food, Racially diverse individuals, Refugees, LGBT individuals […]
Collaborative care and health disparities: A Case Example
A monolingual Spanish-speaking patient from Ecuador was injured on his job in the northeastern US. He was prescribed medicine for multiple physical injuries and had been previously diagnosed with depression prior to the incident. He carries shame about his history of depression and a suicide attempt before he was left unemployed, struggling financially as […]
On Becoming Transformational: The State of Interprofessional Education and Its Future
A few weeks ago the ETSU Academic Health Sciences Department was holding its second full-day experience for students enrolled in the Interprofessional Education (IPE) Program. The day’s experiences centered on values and ethics in team based care, and the importance of considering social determinants of health. Student teams (nursing, medicine, pharmacy, psychology, public health and […]
News & Research Column
Welcome to the second edition of the CFHA News and Research Column, a new series of posts that highlight recent developments in the field of collaborative and integrated care. Check back each month for additional reports. NEWS Privacy Rules on Medical Records for Substance Use Treatment The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) […]
Bucket Two: the Challenge of PTSD and Bipolarity in Primary Care
“The difficult we do immediately. The impossible takes a little longer.” (motto of the WWII Army Corp of Engineers) Consider three primary care buckets, for simplicity: in the first bucket, you’ll find patients with the many forms of depression and anxiety that can benefit significantly from the brief interventions commonly provided by Behavioral Health […]
100 Million Healthier Lives
100 Million Healthier Lives is an unprecedented collaboration of change agents across sectors who are pursuing an unprecedented result: Mission: 100 million people living healthier lives by 2020. Our vision is to fundamentally transform the way the world thinks and acts to improve health, well-being and equity to get to breakthrough results. Together, we are […]
On Arriving and Departing
The truth is of course is that there is no journey. We are arriving and departing all at the same time.” David Bowie Just over a year ago I transitioned from my clinical and teaching practice at a family medicine residency to healthcare consulting. This was no easy farewell. I would be leaving a residency […]

News & Research Column
Welcome to the first edition of the CFHA News and Research Column, a new series of posts that highlight recent developments in the field of collaborative and integrated care. Check back each month for additional reports. NEWS Reimbursement Codes A new bill introduced by U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Congresswoman […]