Health and nursing - Behavioral health leadership or clinical practice

This program provides clinicians with the training and expertise needed to succeed in today’s integrated primary care environments. As a student, you’ll complete specialized coursework focused on evidence-based behavioral interventions.

The curriculum offers options for live and self-paced learning opportunities. You can both set your own schedule and collaborate with classmates and instructors in real time. During live sessions, you’ll engage in discussions, ask questions and explore applied case scenarios. The webinars are also recorded for those who can’t attend live, allowing for maximum flexibility as you prepare for the next steps in your clinical career.

What you’ll learn in this Doctor of Behavioral Health program

This applied, professional doctorate covers health care interventions and management strategies for integrated behavioral health programs. The core curriculum emphasizes three pillars of education, including:

• Medical literacy: Understanding the nuances of disease pathophysiology, progression and treatment.
• Integrated behavioral interventions: Learning how to coordinate the treatment of medical and behavioral conditions in primary care and other medical settings.
• Entrepreneurship: Leveraging your skill set to meet the demands of the 21st century health care market.

Additionally, you’ll learn how to create and implement population health management programs, as well as assess and improve the level of integrated care in primary settings. Other topics covered include using evidence-based strategies to identify patients at risk for health issues and engaging them in their care.

Who’s a good candidate for this clinical DBH?

This program is intended for professionals who are licensed (or license eligible) as behavioral, medical or allied health professionals. It’s ideal if candidates have a current position or would like to work in a hospital or primary care clinic. Experience working on an interprofessional team in a medical setting can also provide helpful context for those entering the program.

Successful candidates seek to enhance their clinical work and develop management skills to specialize in integrated behavioral and primary health care. Different from programs that focus only on mental or physical health, this clinical DBH emphasizes incorporating behavioral interventions and therapeutic lifestyle changes in addition to medical condition management.

Are you interested in creating and/or managing an integrated care program? ASU also offers a Doctor of Behavioral Health with a management concentration online. If you want to explore which concentration is right for you, review this article comparing the two.

In this Doctor of Behavioral Health, you’ll explore current issues in management and behavioral care in integrated primary care environments. You’ll also gain important health care administration skills needed to design, implement and evaluate integrated care programs and meet the needs of patients, providers and health care organizations. Upon graduation, you’ll be equipped with the tools, training and experience required to keep pace with new trends in behavioral intervention and pursue leadership roles in health care administration.

Coursework and more: How you’ll learn in this DBH

This behavioral health management concentration focuses on preparing you for the rapidly evolving integrated care landscape. The curriculum features self-paced learning allowing you to set your own schedule and communicate with peers and professors in real time.

Throughout the behavioral health management curriculum, you’ll focus on:

• Business entrepreneurship: Maximize your earning potential by identifying and adapting to organizational and market demands.
• Integrated behavioral health programs: Learn how to improve patient experiences, support positive clinical outcomes and reduce health care costs and inefficiencies.
• Quality and performance measurement: Improve health care delivery and patient outcomes by adopting the new Accountable Care Organization model.

This program culminates with a unique capstone research project where you’ll develop a comprehensive business plan that aligns with your personal and professional interests.

Who’s a good candidate for this management DBH?

This program is intended for students looking to enhance their clinical work and develop management skills to specialize in integrated behavioral health and health care. As an ideal candidate, you should have a strong interest in working in environments that address both medical and behavioral conditions such as hospitals, primary care clinics and more. Experience working on an interprofessional team in a medical setting would also prepare you well for this program.

In both of our DBH concentrations, clinical and management, you’ll learn about core topics, such as the delivery and economics of health care systems, the organization of health improvement incentives, population-based health management and quality and performance measurement. Additionally, both concentrations prepare you to work in integrated health care environments and support medical and behavioral health services. However, the concentration you choose will depend on whether you prefer to work directly with patients as a clinician or enact policies and create budgets to support clinicians and the patients in their care as a health care administration manager. Learn more about the differences between ASU Online’s clinical and management concentrations. Learn more about the differences between ASU Online’s clinical and management concentrations.