Wisconsin Medicaid & BadgerCare Update
Primary Care Treatment and Follow-up Care for Mental Health and Substance Abuse
Wisconsin Medicaid covers initial primary care treatment and follow-up care for recipients with mental health and/or substance abuse needs provided by primary care physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners. Wisconsin Medicaid will reimburse providers for Current Procedural Terminology evaluation and management services with an International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification diagnosis code applicable for mental health and/or substance abuse services.
In Diabetes, One More Burden for the Mentally Ill
Dr. John Newcomer is a psychiatrist who generally treats people with severe ailments of the mind and spirit. But before his patients sit down, before he hears about their clammy paranoia or renegade voices, Dr. Newcomer wants to know about their waist size.
New York Times - 6/12/06
Psychiatrists Find Home In Primary Care Clinics
Integrated or collaborative care models help both patients and primary care physicians by
bringing psychiatry closer to primary care. Two years ago, one-fourth of Houston's Harris County Hospital District's patient visits included a psychiatric diagnosis, a daunting figure that left the system's primary care physicians frustrated.
Psychiatric News - 3/17/06
Current views on mental health management
We are grateful indeed for the interest and dedication of the Mental Health America of Wisconsin and the authors they recruited to allow the publication of the timely and helpful review of mental health topics presented here. This issue of the Journal is designed to provide current thinking and managements of common and frequently difficult problems in mental health that may become the province of the primary care physician, mainly because of the scarcity of psychiatric consultation and guidance. Subspecialists, too, may benefit from much of the wisdom contained in these pages e.g. Dr Heinrich's thoughtful review of unexplained symptoms and the concept of somatization (p. 83).
Wisconsin Medical Journal Volume 103, Issue 6 - 2004
Mental health impacts all practices
A physician's practice frequently deals with the issue of mental disease, whether it is apparent through the words and actions of the patient or manifested through physical symptoms, difficulty in treatment compliance, or disruptive behaviors. Doctor Chou is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and medical director of the Milwaukee County Child-Adolescent Inpatient Service and Wraparound Milwaukee. He is also an assistant clinical professor for Medical College of Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Medical Journal Volume 103, Issue 6 - 2004
Dealing with the "difficult" patient
The nature of patient-physician relations has changed over the recent past. Fifteen or 20 years ago, patients related more consistently to their physicians as someone who knew them and their families and were authoritative sources of information and treatment, and physicians saw their patients in a more dependent role. There was little second-guessing or overtly expressed dissatisfaction with treatment. But more recently, there has been a fragmentation of patient care. Doctor Chou is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and medical director of the Milwaukee County Child-Adolescent Inpatient Service and Wraparound Milwaukee. He is also an assistant clinical professor for Medical College of Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Medical Journal Volume 103, Issue 6 - 2004
Mental Health America of Wisconsin partners with physicians in mental health education
Physicians encounter many individuals with mental illness in their practice. In fact, they are in a unique position to first recognize and respond to mental disorders. However, the current dynamics of physician practice work against the best inclinations of the provider. Financing arrangements and time constraints make it difficult for the physician to feel like he or she has adequate time to appropriately identify mental disorders. If a mental disorder is identified, the provider may feel ill-equipped to respond, preferring to refer these individuals to specialists. While in some, if not many, instances a referral is an appropriate response, the serious shortage of mental health specialists in many areas of the state will limit the ability of physicians to utilize this option. Additionally, the continuing stigma around mental illness will result in individuals being unwilling to seek care from a specialty provider. As a result, the physician may often be the only available or acceptable provider of mental health services for many individuals.
WisconsinMedical Journal Volume 103, Issue 6 - 2004
Suicide: A Focus On Primary Care
The judgment of the primary care physician is critical in preventing suicide since most mental health care is provided by a primary care doctor. This article will briefly discuss the epidemiology of suicide, then turn to the pragmatic assessment of suicide in the primary care office and treatment issues in patients with elevated suicide risk. Special attention is paid to the risk of suicide with antidepressants because of the recent publicity and the concerns many practitioners have expressed. Doctor Gillmore is a staff psychiatrist at the Clement J. Zablocki Veterans Administration Medical Center. Doctor Carlyle Chan is professor and residency education director in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Medical Journal Volume 103, Issue 6 - 2004
Psychiatric problems of youth in primary care: A review
The role of primary care clinicians in the detection, diagnosis, treatment, and outcome monitoring of mental illness in children and adolescents has long been documented. So too has the fact that the vast majority of medical care given to children with psychiatric illness is by primary care clinicians, not child and adolescent psychiatrists. As specialty resources dwindle, or fail to keep pace with the complexities in the understanding of the etiology and treatments of psychiatric illnesses, primary care clinicians become the 'go to' people after brief exposure to specialty care or following episodic consultation. The goal of this paper is to discuss-by disease category-tools for detection and assessment, treatments, and issues in collaboration between primary care and specialty care. Doctor Witkovsky is an associate professor of child and adolescent psychiatry and pediatrics at the Universityof Wisconsin, Madison. He is also a medical director, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Wisconsin Medical Journal Volume 103, Issue 6 - 2004
Outreach program extends reach of mental health knowledge
The Medical College of Wisconsin is forming a conduit for transferring our expertise in neuropsychiatric disorders to the community. We aim to improve outcomes for the one in five Americans who will experience a significant episode of mental illness at some point in his or her life.
WisconsinMedical Journal Volume 103, Issue 6 - 2004
