The Use of Psychiatric eConsults in Primary Care

Excerpt

Many mental health problems are identified, treated, and managed in primary care. But, primary care providers (PCPs) sometimes struggle to address patients’ mental health conditions. Mental disorders are frequently undiagnosed, untreated, or inadequately managed in primary care,¹ and PCPs report having poor access to mental health specialist consultation.² A recent innovation, the electronic consultation (eConsult), may help alleviate these problems. eConsults are asynchronous consultations between providers, either over a shared electronic health record (EHR) system or via a web-based platform. An eConsult could support PCPs in delivering mental health care while avoiding specialty referrals, or could identify patients who acutely need a specialty referral. Psychiatrists may be well-situated to respond to eConsult requests because patient “no-shows” are relatively common.³ …