5.38 DC MAP (MENTAL HEALTH ACCESS IN PEDIATRICS)

• Published in: Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Vol. 55; no. 10; pp. S195 - S196
• Main Authors: Gabriel, Mary T., MD, Godoy, Leandra, PhD
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Baltimore Elsevier Inc 01-10-2016; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Aggressiveness; Anxiety; Anxiety-Depression; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Care coordinators; Child & adolescent psychiatry; Childhood; Children; Conduct disorder; Consultants; Depression; Health care access; Health insurance; Insurance; Medicaid; Men; Mental disorders; Mental Health; Mental health care; Mental health professionals; Mood; Noncompliance; Nurse practitioners; Pediatrics; Physicians; Primary care; Psychiatry; Psychosis; Telemedicine; Temper tantrums; Trauma; Washington DC; United States > US
• ISSN: 0890-8567; 1527-5418
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2016.09.296

Objectives: Child mental health (MH) access programs, which provide consultative support to pediatric primary care providers (PPCPs), are emerging as an increasingly popular way to address childhood MH needs, yet there are few studies of these programs. The aim of this study is to examine a new child MH access program in Washington, DC -- DC MAP (Mental Health Access in Pediatrics) -- including describing call volume, nature of the calls, and call outcomes. Methods: Call data gathered over the first 12 months (May 2015-May 2016) of DC MAP will be examined. Results: Over the first 7.5 months, 158 calls were placed to DC MAP. Call volume has varied over time, although the majority of calls were funneled consistently to the care coordinator for resource/referral questions (76.5 percent). Callers were primarily physicians (61 percent), with fewer calls coming from nurse practitioners (13.9 percent) and mental health clinicians (8.4 percent). PPCPs called about families with children, primarily males (58.9 percent), ranging in age from newborn to 21 years, with a mean patient age of 10.6 years (SD = 4.5 years). Children being called about were predominantly covered by Medicaid (82.4 percent), with 13.2 percent covered by private insurance. The most common diagnostic topics pertained to ADHD (48.4 percent), mood issues (depression, BD) (25.8 percent), anxiety (16.1 percent), tantrums/explosive behavior (16.1 percent), conduct problems (aggression, noncompliance) (12.9 percent), trauma (12.9 percent), and psychosis (11.3 percent). Conclusions: Results demonstrate that DC MAP is a highly used program that has helped to address calls about a range of mental health topics among a variety of children. More work can be done to expand usage, particularly to encourage PPCPs to make use of MH consultants and manage what they can internally. Results will be discussed within the context of lessons learned.