Let the Child Psychiatry Access Network help you help your patients
By Edith Ortiz, MBA
The Child Psychiatry Access Network can assist a primary care physician during a mental-health-focused assessment in the office, providing them with education and recommendations for evidence-based interventions. Studies show that families place enormous trust in you, their family doctor, and often prefer to have mental health issues managed without a referral to a specialist. Our CPAN team is there to support that process as well as help locate mental health services when the problem is severe and warrants specialty intervention.
We are happy to take a call whether the patient is in your office or not. Call us when you get that inbox message and are not sure of the next steps. Call us when an intervention you have recommended is not effective. Call us when you want help explaining a mental health challenge to a family. You will reach a team member within five minutes of your call, and if a child psychiatry team member is needed to assist, they will call you back within 30 minutes.
We value your special expertise and your relationship with your families. We want to be your expert consultation team that provides access to equitable care and provides you with increased knowledge and skills to manage those mild to moderate mental health disorders.
CPAN is ready to provide real-time phone consultation to all Texas primary care physicians, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Just call (888) 901-CPAN. You can sign up on the first call or just to get your mental health question answered. CPAN is here for you and the families you serve.
Here’s an example from one of our CPAN psychiatrists, Lauren K. Havel, MD.
”As a CPAN psychiatrist, I provide consultation on diagnosis, medication management, and treatment planning. One recent consultation focused on choosing a medication for anxiety in a young adolescent with a diagnosis of chronic musculoskeletal pain. The pediatrician had already prescribed the first-line treatment, having tried two different selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors without sufficient benefit to the patient’s anxiety. The pediatrician and I reviewed the presenting symptoms, which met the criteria for generalized anxiety disorder, and the typical treatment algorithm. As she had already tried two medications in the first-line class, I recommended a medication in the second-line class, serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, with evidence for treating chronic pain. The pediatrician and I discussed the starting dose and titration schedule, potential side effects, and the follow-up plan.
“This whole process took less than 10 minutes and the pediatrician was able to provide a recommendation to the patient that same day. At CPAN our child psychiatrists are available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The family doesn’t need to be in the office for you to pick up the phone and ask a question. Call us as many times as you need to better support the families in your care.“
For more information about CPAN, visit https://tcmhcc.utsystem.edu/initiatives/pediatrician-and-pcp/.
Edith Ortiz, MBA, is a project manager with the Centralized Operation Support Hub of the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium. She is also a Senior Business Operations Associate in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Baylor College of Medicine.