To the Editor: I would like to present further clarification with regard to our overall study alluded to in the editorial titled “Patient-Centered Research Happens in Practice-based Research Networks” in the September/October 2013 issue of the Journal.1 In that editorial, the authors stated that our article, titled “Integrating Behavioral and Physical Health Care in the Real World: Early Lessons from Advancing Care Together”2 (ACT), describes “the challenges of implementing a more intensive depression screening program that requires additional staff.” While this was discussed in our article about many randomized controlled trials, the ACT program funds diverse primary care practices and community mental health centers to deliver whole-person, integrated care. Instead of looking at how practices address a single disease, such as depression, our article shows how the ACT innovators are addressing the full spectrum of patients' behavioral and physical health needs.
The ACT program and our article on early findings begin to address one of the current challenges in translating the findings from research studies into “real world” contexts by eliminating the artificial focus on individual disease states and embracing the multidimensionality of patient care.
Thank you for the opportunity to clarify the purpose and focus of our article.
Notes
The above letter was referred to the author of the article in question, who declined to comment.
