Integrated care is arguably one of the most important developments in the delivery of health care over the last few years. This new approach to health care, roughly defined as the provision of behavioral or mental health care in a way that is more coordinated with the primary medical healthcare setting, has the focused goal of providing a more complete care for the patient. This book focuses on three main content areas. Firstly, the treatment of psychological problems in the context of primary medical care will be addressed in several chapters. Secondly, several chapters address co-morbid psychological factors that play a key role in the effective medical management of physical diseases, either acute or chronic. Finally, several chapters address issues relevant to the overall practice of integrated care. This book is intended to extend and bridge the existing literatures of integrated care, behavioral medicine, consultation-liaison psychiatry, medical cost offset, and healthcare economics, by providing a comprehensive and current handbook of the clinical protocols that might be applied to the practice of integrated care.
