Getting mental healthcare—virtually—at your regular doctor's office

The family practice, part of the Carolinas Healthcare System, is on the front line of an ambitious plan to integrate mental and physical health care via technology. Integration has become the mantra of many systems nationwide, but Carolinas' work relies on virtual teams of specialists collaborating with its primary care practices. John Santopietro, chief clinical officer for behavioral health services, says system leaders feel they have little choice. North Carolina suffers one of the country's most acute shortages of mental health professionals. Nearly half of its 100 counties have a single psychiatrist at best. That means primary care doctors are the ones seeing, and trying to treat, the bulk of patients' often serious behavioral health problems.