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About


Advancing Care Together

This four-year program aimed to discover practical models to integrate mental health, substance use, and primary care services for people whose health problems and health care needs span physical, emotional, and behavioral domains. The program funded 11 demonstration projects that were organized as a set of diverse comparative case studies and linked to support cross-project learning.

ACT invited primary care practices and community mental health centers to learn what could be accomplished in real world settings to integrate care for children, adolescents and adults. To optimize learning, ACT funded a portfolio of Colorado projects in diverse geographic areas and that employed a range of care delivery models.

ACT relied on the imagination and practical knowledge of people working day-to-day to care for people within their communities. The program recognized that individuals’ health care needs vary in severity and responsiveness to treatment, that local resources and barriers are highly variable, and that these realities may dictate what care is offered and where health care is received.

There should be no wrong door in a properly constructed system — whether people understand their problem as emotional, behavioral, or physical; their needs should be addressed in an integrated fashion.

The program’s goals:

The program’s three phases:

The program’s organization and leadership: