SBIRT to be part of collaborative care initiative

An intervention to curb risky substance use will be a service option under an innovative federally funded initiative to implement a collaborative care model for patients who have clinical depression along with diabetes and/or heart disease.

The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is awarding nearly $18 million to a host of organizations led by the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI), a quality improvement organization sponsored by nonprofit health plans in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Several other healthcare institutions outside of those states will be participating in this project as well.

While all participating sites will support development of a common model and training program to manage depression plus diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease collaboratively, many of the sites also will incorporate the Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) model to address potentially harmful substance use in this patient population.

According to a statement from ICSI, focusing on the substance use issue is of particular concern in Minnesota, which it says ranks sixth in the nation in the prevalence of binge drinking.

“We will spread an innovative model that provides better health, better care and lower costs—truly a Triple Aim Bulls-eye,” said Sanne Magnan, MD, PhD, president and CEO of ICSI.

Components of the care management model under this initiative include use of a computerized registry to monitor patient progress; use of a care manager to provide the individual patient with education and illness self-management support; and relapse and exacerbation prevention.