Children's Hospitals Today - Fall 2021 - 14

FEATURE / BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
SESSION 2
Save room
Consider strategies for reducing demand for acute care beds when
treating youth and adolescents with mental health concerns.
THE EXPERTS
Moderator: Terrie Andrews, Ph.D., Administrator of Behavioral Health, Wolfson Children's Hospital
Victor Fornari, M.D., Vice Chair and Division Director, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Northwell Health
Jennifer Havens, M.D., Interim Chair, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, NYU Langone Health
WHERE TO START
Intervene early
Jennifer Havens: " There are great models
for transformational primary care that
find and support high-risk mothers and
their babies; there's early intervention
A NEW WAY
Rethink urgent care
TAKING ACTION »
We need to fight
for the appropriate
reimbursements for
these services. But
every service you set up
that really works-that
you can try to generate
revenue for, that you
can try to generate a
political will for-then
you can keep going.
That's the way to go.
-JENNIFER HAVENS
The prevalence of
child and adolescent
depression and anxiety
during the pandemic
has doubled compared
with pre-pandemic
estimates.
-JAMA PEDIATRICS, August 2021
Victor Fornari: " We have a walk-in behavioral
health process-which I recommend
everybody think about developing-but
it's not a one-time visit. It's one time and
until linkage is made. So, we can see people
for follow up every day, for a week, for two
weeks ... until we can find the linkage. This
urgent-care model aims to keep kids out
of the ER and out of inpatient services
unnecessarily-and linked to services. It
doesn't have to be with a child psychiatrist.
It has to be a child clinician who understands
how to manage urgent matters. "
MUST-HAVE COLLABORATION
Partner with pediatric
care providers
Victor Fornari: " More than 30 states have
and early childhood mental health care.
In addition to early intervention, we
should have school-based mental health
services in elementary schools. The longer
you wait to treat a sick child, the more
likely you will be to have a sick adult. And
then the costs of care are higher. "
collaborative care programs in behavioral
health. Find out what is available in your
state. Work with your local pediatric association
to help request that of the local government.
One example: Project TEACH in
New York trains primary care providers to
assess, treat and manage mild to moderate
pediatric mental health concerns-helping
hospitals save room for patients in crisis. "
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CHILDREN'S HOSPITALS TODAY Fall 2021

Children's Hospitals Today - Fall 2021

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