Psychologists and Primary Care Physicians: A Training Model for Creating Collaborative Relationships

For over a decade insurance reform, changes in health care delivery, reimbursement policies, and managed care have increased pressure on psychologists to diversify beyond traditional practices. Despite the negative impact of failing to make a transformation, most psychologists have not modified their practice and most training programs do not prepare psychologists to provide integrated care. The current paper describes the importance of primary care and psychology partnering to create integrated care models and makes the case that such partnerships are not only beneficial to patients but to both professions. The paper concludes with a description of a training model that has been implemented at the institution of the authors that provides opportunities for psychologists to learn how to practice in primary care settings.