ABSTRACT
In our current, American healthcare climate, it is imperative for behavioral health providers to collaborate with other specialty medical professionals, such as nurses and physicians. Clinically integrated service delivery and valuebased care are now essential in the behavioral health service delivery industry. Some critics have referred to this development as the “medicalization of mental health.” With recent changes, including the newly-mandated adherence to coding and documentation guidelines, behavioral healthcare clinicians must now work more in tandem with their medical counterparts to improve their systemic and practical approaches to these topics. Educating newly emerging clinicians as they enter the field is the next, important step in ensuring a current and next generation of clinical competence.
