Clinicians' utilization of child mental health telephone consultation in primary care: findings from Massachusetts.

Journal Article (Journal Article)

OBJECTIVE: The authors examined utilization of the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Project, a mental health telephone consultation service for primary care, hypothesizing that greater use would be related to severe psychiatric diagnoses and polypharmacy. METHODS: The authors examined the association between utilization, defined as the mean number of contacts per patient during the 180 days following the initial contact (July 2008-June 2009), and characteristics of the initial contact, including consultation question, the child's primary mental health problem, psychotropic medication regimen, insurance status, and time of year. RESULTS: Utilization (N=4,436 initial contacts, mean=3.83 contacts) was associated with initial contacts about medication management, polypharmacy, public and private health insurance, and time of year. The child's primary mental health problem did not predict utilization. CONCLUSIONS: Telephone consultation services address treatment with psychotropic medications, particularly polypharmacy. Joint public-private funding should be considered for such public programs that serve privately insured children.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Hobbs Knutson, K; Masek, B; Bostic, JQ; Straus, JH; Stein, BD

Published Date

  • March 1, 2014

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 65 / 3

Start / End Page

  • 391 - 394

PubMed ID

  • 24584527

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1557-9700

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1176/appi.ps.201200295

Language

  • eng

Conference Location

  • United States