How many behavioral health consultants do we need? Behavioral health consultant staffing ratios within primary care behavioral health.

Abstract

As the field moves to implement primary care behavioral health (PCBH), which includes a team of health professionals like primary care providers (PCPs) and behavioral health consultants (BHCs) working in sync, it is critical to understand the operational and financial ins and outs of the model (Funderburk et al., 2021; Peek, 2008). There are unintended consequences connected to our gaps in knowledge about PCBH staffing ratios, including challenges in estimating integrated behavioral health care workforce needs and difficulty forecasting the financial aspects of PCBH needed for sustainability (Jones et al., 2024; Serrano, 2022). We know PCBH improves population health outcomes, and it is crucial to understand the human and financial resources needed within different practice settings to support diverse patient populations so that the model can be effectively, efficiently, and equitably implemented and integrated into primary care practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).