Clinical quality corner: Coordination of care

This new column by Dr. William Beecroft, medical director of behavioral health, will feature topics recommended by the Clinical Quality Committee.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan promotes the importance of coordination of care among contracted providers, including the primary care provider and behavioral health specialist. Coordination of care is crucial to ensuring that everyone on the treatment team is aware of others who may be involved in the care of the patient. This helps eliminate so-called silos of care and leads, ultimately, to optimal patient outcomes.

We’ve added language to our insurance certificates that provides our members with information about this key component of their care. The certificates indicate that the primary care physician is the participating provider a member chooses to provide or coordinate all their medical health care, including specialty and hospital care. The primary care physician is licensed in one of the following medical fields:

• Family Practice
• General Practice
• Internal Medicine
• Pediatrics

We encourage you to explain to your patients why coordination of care is so important and ask them to let you know if they’re seeing other health care providers.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has made available a standard consent form** that providers can use for sharing mental health and substance use disorder treatment information.

For more information, see the Coordination of care section of the “Behavioral Health chapter” in your online provider manual.

**Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network don’t own or control this website.