NEW ORLEANS – The way Jay Rabinowitz, MD, MPH, sees it, providing mental and behavioral health care services in your primary care pediatrics practice is a win-win for patients, parents, and clinicians.
Doug Brunk/MDedge News
Dr. Lindsey Einhorn (left) and Dr. Jay Rabinowitz
For one thing, children with mental and behavioral issues – especially depression and anxiety – make up a good chunk of any pediatrician’s workday. Dr. Rabinowitz, clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado, Aurora, said at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “It is the most costly issue in children’s health care today.”
According to “Behavioral Health Integration in Pediatric Primary Care,” a report supported by the Milbank Memorial Fund, one in five children aged 9-17 years have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder, and up to 70% of children in the juvenile justice system have a mental health disorder. The report also found that the treatment of mental health disorders accounts for the most costly childhood medical expenditure, and that between 15% and 20% of children with psychiatric disorders receive specialty care; the rest see their primary care provider. A long-term cost analysis showed significant cost savings: $1 spent on collaborative care saves $6.50 on health care costs.
More recently, the Guidelines for Adolescent Depression in Primary Care (GLAD-PC) found that only 50% of adolescents with depression are diagnosed before reaching adulthood (Pediatrics. March 2018;141[3]:e20174081). As many as two out of three youth with depression are not identified by their pediatrician and do not receive any kind of care.
“Even when diagnosed, only half of these patients are treated appropriately,” said Dr. Rabinowitz, who also practices at Parker (Colo.) Pediatrics and Adolescents.
The guidelines also found that reliance on self-report depression checklists alone lead to substantial numbers of false-positive and false-negative cases. “Primary care providers will benefit from having access to ongoing consultation with mental health providers,” according to the guidelines.
“Integrative care was associated with significant decreases in depression scores, and improved response and remission rates at 12 months, compared with treatment as usual,” Dr. Rabinowitz said.
Providing mental health services in a primary care pediatrics setting also makes sense because there’s a shortage of psychiatrists and psychologists to see them, and it enables patients to get evaluated quicker. “It’s convenient, and it reduces stigma,” he added. “It’s a familiar setting, a familiar provider, and they’re more likely to initiate counseling. Nationwide, 50% of patients who are referred for mental health do not make their initial appointment. Think about that. If you had diabetics in your practice and only 50% would go to the endocrinologist, what would you think?”
How Dr. Rabinowitz and his partners got started
Dr. Rabinowitz and his colleagues created an integrated care model in 2008 by adding a psychologist to their practice, but before doing that, they asked parents of children with mental and behavioral health issues what type of insurance they had. Then they obtained a referral list from the family’s insurer and hoped for the best. “Sometimes I referred to someone I may not have heard of,” Dr. Rabinowitz said. “Usually I did not get follow-up reports, or even know for sure if the patient ever went.”