Recent advances in primary care behavioral health

• We review evidence-based practices for integrated behavioral health providers.
• Validated self-report measures facilitate screening and measurement-based care.
• Evidence supports brief interventions for depression, alcohol, tobacco, insomnia.
• Guidance on how to implement evidence-based interventions is limited.
• Evidence for brief interventions for behavioral medicine issues is lacking.

Behavioral healthcare is being increasingly integrated into primary care settings. The primary care behavioral health (PCBH) model is one of the most common approaches to integrated care, but limited guidance exists to guide behavioral health providers (BHPs) in their everyday clinical practice. The purpose of this review is to summarize evidence-based assessment and intervention practices for PCBH providers and identify gaps for future research. Recent advances that can help support evidence-based practice among these providers include a measure of integrated behavioral health providers’ fidelity to the PCBH model, brief behavioral health assessment and outcome measures, and brief interventions.