
Behavioral Health Care Manager Trainings
The AIMS Center offers three comprehensive training programs that empower clinicians with the essential knowledge and skills to thrive as Behavioral Health Care Managers. These programs can be taken individually or as a cohesive series. When taken together, they build upon one another to deliver key insights, ensuring clinicians are fully prepared for this vital role.
Job Description
Behavioral Health Care Manager Job Description
Effective BHCMs support the PCP in their role by:
- Participating in diagnosis and treatment planning
- Coordinating treatment
- Providing proactive follow-up of treatment response
- Alerting the PCP when the patient is not improving
- Supporting medication management
- Facilitating communication with the psychiatric consultant regarding treatment changes
- Offering brief counseling (using evidence-based techniques such as motivational interviewing, behavioral activation, and problem-solving treatment)
Some BHCM duties and responsibilities can be assigned to other members of the care team. However, BHCMs on a Collaborative Care team need to build a unique set of clinical skills specific to practicing in primary care and other healthcare settings.
Caseload Guidelines
We recommend, as much as feasible, hiring BHCMs as full-time or nearly full-time staff. BHCMs who are assigned numerous other duties in a fast-paced clinic setting often fall behind on effectively managing their CoCM caseload. It may mean that the BHCM position must cover two or more smaller clinics to justify the FTE. See our caseload guidelines document for further details.
I have seen patients experience improvement in their symptoms with the combined support of their primary care doctor, psychiatric consultant, and care manager and patients regularly tell me that they appreciate being seen as a whole person, where all aspects of their health are addressed in one place.
– Monica Miller, behavioral health care manager