Since hosting monthly finance office hours, the AIMS Center has compiled the most asked questions and their answers. Answers address a variety of billing and financing topics including: reimbursement, the CoCM team, general BHI code, patient cost, registry options, telehealth, time tracking and more.
Updated 03/28/2023
Audience: Care Team
Guidance on Verbal Patient Consent and CoCM
Ensuring that a patient understands the Collaborative Care (CoCM) program before agreeing to participate is a crucial task for primary care providers. This resource provides general guidance on obtaining verbal consent from patients to participate in CoCM. Please note that these are general tips and that specific consent requirements may vary by state and patient insurance.
Integrated Care: Creating Effective Mental and Primary Health Care Teams
Integrated Care: Creating Effective Mental Health and Primary Health Care Teams provides the first comprehensive guide for teams to integrate effective mental health care into primary care clinics. Edited by a team of UW Medicine mental health experts, it includes practical information, skills, and clinical approaches needed to implement Collaborative Care, an evidence-based model of integrated care developed at the University of Washington. Importantly, it provides a common resource and framework for all members of the care team including care managers, psychiatrists, primary care providers, and administrators. Editors include UW psychiatrists Anna Ratzliff, MD, PhD, Jurgen Unutzer, MD, PhD, MA, and the late Wayne Katon, MD, as well as UW psychologist Kari Stephens, PhD.
Find resources for implementation within the free Integrated Care Online Appendix. These include a CoCM readiness checklist, BHCM documentation templates with examples, job descriptions, links to screening and symptom monitoring tools, and more. Please note that the Integrated Care Online Appendix was last updated in 2016 and there may be more current versions of items elsewhere in our resource library. Email uwaims@uw.edu with specific questions.
Clinic Implementation Team Lead Description
The Clinic Implementation Team Lead facilitates implementation and leads the Clinic Implementation Team (CIT). The CIT is created when a medical practice is planning to implement Collaborative Care. The document below outlines the CIT Leads’ key responsibilities, as well as the personal and professional characteristics that are most desirable in this role.
Primary Care Provider Champion Role Description
The Primary Care Provider (PCP) Champion plays a key role on the Clinic Implementation Team (CIT). The CIT is created when a medical practice is planning to implement Collaborative Care. This document outlines the PCP Champion’s key responsibilities with the team and their PCP colleagues, as well as the personal and professional characteristics that are most desirable in the role.
PMQ-9 (Spanish)
The Spanish version of the Patient Mania Questionnaire (PMQ-9) is a nine-item scale used to assess and monitor manic symptoms. The PMQ-9 Mania Questionnaire complements use of the PHQ-9 for depressive symptoms to inform measurement-based care. It is also suited for use in mental health care settings. An English version of the PMQ-9 can be found here.
Pediatric Collaborative Care Implementation Guide
This guide is for multi-disciplinary, primary care teams seeking to improve care access and behavioral health outcomes for children and adolescents through implementing Collaborative Care. Centered around the core principles of Collaborative Care, this guide serves as a roadmap to healthcare leaders, managers, clinicians, and staff in primary care as they:
- start a new Collaborative Care program, or
- expand an existing integrated care or Collaborative Care program to pediatrics, and/or
- partner with community and behavioral health agencies.
For training support and technical assistance implementing Pediatric Collaborative Care reach out to the AIMS Center at: uwaims@uw.edu. Research has shown that clinics receiving implementation support from the AIMS Center have significantly better patient outcomes.
PMQ-9
The Patient Mania Questionnaire (PMQ-9) is a nine-item scale used to assess and monitor manic symptoms. The PMQ-9 Mania Questionnaire complements use of the PHQ-9 for depressive symptoms to inform measurement-based care. It is also suited for use in mental health care settings. A Spanish version of the PMQ-9 is also available.
PCL-5
The PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) is a 20-item self-report measure that assesses DSM-5 symptoms of PTSD. This measure was developed by staff at the Veterans Affairs (VA) National Center for PTSD. It is free for qualified health professionals and researchers to use.