Researching Warm Hand-Offs: Should We Give a WHOot?

I bet that if you are a primary care behavioral health (PCBH) enthusiast, you have endorsed warm hand-offs (WHOs) as a beneficial part of the PCBH model. Or maybe you are model agnostic but just feel intuitively that aWHO is the best way to connect your patients to care. In my role as a researcher, I have supported the use ofWHOs as an essential component of the PCBHmodel and an indicator of high-fidelity practice (Beehler et al., 2020). This assertion was, and still is, a purposeful one and informed by an expert opinion process (Beehler et al., 2013). Similarly, inmy role as a clinician and the recipient of WHOs from medical providers, I knowI can capitalize on this interaction to offer behavioral services to someone whomight not come back on another occasion. If nothing else, it is a great opportunity to connect with the patient with the hope of coaxing them into care. However, the reality is that there is actually very little empirical evidence to support my assertions as either a researcher or clinician. The lack of research into WHOs is also reflective of the paucity of research regarding the value of specific components of PCBH (and most integrated care models).