The authors sought to assess the availability of outpatient mental health care through pediatrician and child psychiatrist offices in the United States and to characterize differences in appointment availability by location, provider type, and insurance across five cities. To do so, the authors posed as parents of a 12-year-old child with depression, gave a predetermined insurance type, and asked to make the first available appointment with the specified provider. They called the offices of 601 individual pediatricians and 312 child psychiatrists located in five U.S. cities and listed as in-network by Blue Cross Blue Shield, one of the largest private insurers in the United States. Appointments were obtained with 40% of the pediatricians and 17% of the child psychiatrists. The mean wait time for psychiatry appointments was 30 days longer than for pediatric appointments. Providers were less likely to have available appointments for children on Medicaid, which is public insurance for low-income people. The most common reason for being unable to make an appointment was that the listed phone number was incorrect. Pediatricians were twice as likely to see new patients and to see them sooner than child psychiatrists. Increasing the number of both types of providers may be necessary to increase access to mental health care for children.
It is important to proactively identify and address psychological difficulties in patients and their families prior to transplant. Following transplantation, a multidisciplinary approach to targeting rehabilitation and decreasing negative effects of the transplant may assist with improving the QOL for patients and their families.
This study aimed to assess parents' satisfaction with the primary care provider (PCP) in the treatment of their child's mental health problems after the PCP consulted with the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program (MCPAP). It studied how parental satisfaction may vary across factors, including service utilization, parental perception of the child's illness, and parental perception of certain PCP attributes. Methods:The study analyzed 374 telephone consultations made from PCPs to MCPAP between March 2010 and June 2012. Questions in a structured telephone survey administered to parents identified the types of services participants were referred to and assessed satisfaction rates on the basis of measures reflective of the patient-doctor relationship and of illness factors.Results: Eighty-six percent of participants expressed satisfaction with their PCP's handling of their child's mental health problems after MCPAP consultation. Participants who agreed with statements reflective of a positive patientdoctor relationship (in terms of the PCP's empathy and knowledge) exhibited higher rates of satisfaction with the PCP's role in the treatment of their child's mental health problems than those who did not agree. The most common recommendations made to families after consultation were to follow up with the child's PCP (94%) and to obtain further MCPAP consultation (78%). Conclusions:The survey results indicated high rates of parents' satisfaction with the PCP's handling of their child's mental health issues. Recommendations made to PCPs by MCPAP consultants aimed to strengthen the PCP's role as a mental health provider.
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