What Is an Online Learning Collaborative?

Online learning collaboratives are a form of applied training in the Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) being offered by APA as part of the federal government’s Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative (TCPI). The collaboratives are for clinicians who have completed introductory training in the CoCM.

The TCPI is a $2.9 million, four-year federal grant from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. APA is one of just 39 organizations that were chosen to participate in the TCPI. As one of the Support and Alignment Networks (SANs) supported under the grant, APA is committed to training 3,500 psychiatrists in the principles and practice of collaborative care, a specific model of integrated care developed by the late Wayne Katon, M.D., Jürgen Unützer, M.D., M.P.H., and colleagues at the AIMS (Advancing Integrated Mental Health Solutions) Center at the University of Washington.

APA offers a four-hour training in the collaborative care model both online and live at local district branch meetings, allied meetings, the Annual Meeting, and IPS: The Mental Health Services Conference. There is also an advanced course that is offered online. To date, over 1,200 psychiatrists from 49 states have taken the training.

For those who complete the introductory training, APA offers online learning collaboratives that allow clinicians who are interested in CoCM or already practicing collaborative care to share ideas and learn from each other, and discuss ways to apply the principles of the model within their own practices.

The collaboratives consist of a group of 10 to 12 practitioners who meet online and in conference calls with a moderator over a period of 12 weeks to discuss ways to apply the training they received in the earlier stages of didactic training. The content of the learning itself consists of a mix of reading material and conference call discussions with the moderator and other participants. Additionally, each participant performs some kind of “performance-in-practice” quality improvement project within his or her practice. Importantly, graduates of the learning collaboratives also earn an important benefit—credit toward Part II and Part IV of Maintenance of Certification (MOC) as well as CME credit.

Ten psychiatrists completed the first two sessions of the online collaborative, first offered at the end of 2016; 30 clinicians are currently enrolled in two ongoing collaboratives.

APA Director of Education Tristan Gorrindo, M.D., urged members to enlist in the didactic training if they have not yet done so; those who have completed the training should follow up by joining an online learning collaborative.

“Learning collaboratives help psychiatrists take knowledge and apply it in the real world,” he said. “The technical assistance they receive from faculty and from others in the learning collaborative takes learners from knowing about a topic to knowing how to apply knowledge about a topic.” ■