Table 1. Vocabulary and metrics for defining level of collaborative care implementation

A National Agenda for Research in Collaborative Care

Defining clauses for collaborative care	Elements to be measured (from parameters of collaborative care)	Metric—relative presence or absence of these elements in a practice	Data source for that metric
1. A team	Clinical functions available through different team members	Treatment provided by a physician and behavioral health clinician	Clinical record
	Level of sharing physical or "virtual" space	Evidence of behavioral health clinician on site or documentation of working relationships between collaborating clinicians in separate sites	Employment record or formal document outlining relationship
	Level of training for collaborative care	Evidence of team member completion of collaborative care training in the last year	CE documentation
	Level of shared professional culture	Percent of total set of markers for a fully shared professional culture	Markers from Doherty, McDaniel, Baird⁹
2. With a shared population and mission	Overall practice mission and patient panel	Pick one category from: a) primary medical care, b) specialty medical care, c) specialty mental health care	Practice license or certification
	Identified population seen for collaborative care	Percent of total practice patients seen collaboratively with: a) mental health conditions, b)medical conditions/chronic illnesses with behavioral health factors, c) physical symptoms without medical basis, or d) any complex patient	Medical chart audit or EHR report
	Screening methods for that population	Percent of patients in target population screened.	Quality improvement report
	Screening methods for that population	Percent of patients screened that were identified for collaborative care	Quality improvement report
	Assessment methods for that population	Number of patients receiving assessment contrasted with number screened positive	Chart audit or EHR
	Treatment and follow up methods for that population	Number of patients enrolled in care who complete care episode	Chart audit or EHR
3. Using a clinical system	Population-level identification system	Evidence of an operating consistently used screening system for specified patients	System documentation and data reports
	Bio-psycho-social care plans in record	Percent of patients with care plans with documented evidence of bio-, psycho-, or social aspects of health, care and function	Chart audit or EHR
	Shared medical record	Documentation of single chart or transparent EHR access	Chart audit or EHR
4. Supported by an office practice and financial system	Clinical operational systems and processes that support collaborative care	Integrated referral, scheduling, data collection, communications, billing and office support systems	Documentation of systems
4. Supported by an office practice and financial system	Sustainable financial model(s) that supportcollaborative clinical work	Documentation of sustainable financing	Financial reports
5. With continuous QI and effectiveness measurement	Routine collection and use of practice data from QI and improving effectiveness of collaborative care.	Plan for data collection and use of collaborative care data	Quality improvement plan and project reports

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Page last reviewed June 2011

Internet Citation: Table 1. Vocabulary and metrics for defining level of collaborative care implementation: A National Agenda for Research in Collaborative Care. June 2011. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://archive.ahrq.gov/research/findings/final-reports/collaborativecare/collab2tab1.html