Listen to a conversation between the psychologist and physician champion who implemented Integrated Behavioral Health in a pilot study and then throughout the Kansas City Metro in a fully-capitated advanced primary care practice coupled with an insurance product.  Review core concepts and the rationale of the Primary Care Behavioral Health model.  Successful hiring and barriers to implementation are discussed by the professionals who led this effort together.

Speakers: Debra McQueeney, Ph.D., Dr. Rebecca Gernon

Debra McQueeney, Ph.D., pioneered the integration of behavioral health in the Kansas City area, beginning with a pilot study of the PCBH model in a large primary care practice. The clinical and financial effectiveness of this program was published, and subsequently adopted in nine primary care offices across Kansas City (Spira Care).

Dr. McQueeney has served patients in multiple settings ranging from the VA Hospital System to private practice in her 40 years of practicing.  She is an expert in the treatment of anxiety, relational distress and life transitions.  She is particularly attentive to the intersection of physical and mental health.

She is currently engaged as a provider for Sailor Health, an organization committed to serving an older population.  

She serves on the boards of Prairie Sky Counseling Center in Kansas City and the Epworth Church Association in Ludington, Michigan, where she spends her summers.

Dr. Rebecca Gernon is a board-certified Family Medicine physician who completed a Master’s in Public Health @ Boston University prior to entering medical school at the University of Kansas.  She has practiced Family Medicine in academic, community, and managed care settings since finishing her residency in 2001 with a clinical focus on integrating behavioral health into the practice of primary care. Following a successful integrated primary care pilot as the “physician champion” she pivoted towards the practice of population health/managed care as Medical Director in the Blues, first as a reviewing clinician and later as the chief clinical leader of a fully-capitated advanced primary care practice integrated with an insurance product in the Kansas City Metro. She is now working at another Blues plan, where she continues learning the business of healthcare from the perspective of a clinical appeals specialist catching all healthcare stakeholders in the act of doing good on a daily basis.