Brokering System Change: A Logic Model of an Intermediary-Purveyor Organization for Behavioral Health Care

The improvement of systems of care has long been undermined by the gap between the availability and routine use of evidence-based interventions (EBIs). Researchers, implementation specialists, and service system stakeholders have created intermediary-purveyor organizations (IPOs) to facilitate EBI uptake and sustainment. To date, little theoretical or empirical scholarship has articulated stakeholder-driven processes among individuals such as service system program leaders, frontline service providers, service recipients, and academic and clinical experts that IPOs need to advance sustainable system change. The authors of this Open Forum outline a model of IPO inputs, objectives, and impacts while highlighting key issues that IPOs face as they contend with complex system change. Areas of future inquiry into partnership processes, IPO activities, and quality of care are discussed.