ABSTRACT
One goal of current health care reform has been to reverse the trend toward specialization and fragmented care by bolstering primary care services as a foundation for more effective and cost-efficient care (Miranda, Hohmann, Atkinson, & Larson, 1994). This has led to an increasing interest in the development of integrated health care delivery systems in the past few years, and it now seems likely that we will see larger numbers of behavioral health care providers working alongside physicians and other medical personnel in primary health care settings to more thoroughly address the complex interaction between physical illness and psychological factors. This chapter addresses these developments in the area of children's health care, specifically in pediatric primary care settings. Several topics will be addressed: the justifications for integrating behavioral health care into pediatric primary care settings, current trends in identifying behavioral issues in these settings, and the issues and concerns that are important to consider in providing integrated care in pediatric primary care settings. The focus of the chapter also emphasizes the potential role of pediatric psychologists in these settings.
