Practice Integration Profile (PIP)

Practice Integration Profile (PIP) is both a research tool and a practice improvement tool, freely available for anyone to use without cost. PIP 2.0 is measuring the integration of primary care and behavioral health services. It is comprised of 28 questions that address integration in each of the following 5 domains:

Workspace and Integration Methods

Physical location of BH clinicians in the primary care practice, sharing of documentation in patients’ charts, exchange of patient information between BH and medical clinicians in addition to their joint participation in educational activities and opportunities to interact with each other.

Patient Identification

Screening routines implemented in the primary care practice, specifically the use of screening approaches to identify patients with unmet behavioral health or health behavior change needs.

Clinical Services

Relative presence of BH clinicians in the practice and the variety of BH services that are available.

Patient Engagement

Engagement and retention of patients in behavioral health services in addition to training in patient engagement approaches for the entire primary care team.

Practice Workflow

Established processes for tracking patients with known BH needs, coordinating care, referrals to specialty services, and documenting self-management goals.

The development of the PIP began in 2014. It was designed to be a self-assessment survey operationalizing the ideas in Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Lexicon of Collaborative Care (2013). Any member of a primary care team can complete the PIP survey to assess the degree of integration of behavioral health and primary care services in their practice. The PIP is free for anyone to use and our team happy to consult with stakeholders and researchers who are interested in collaborating. To contact our team with questions please email us at PIP@umassmed.edu.