If a patient is already working with the Mental Health team: Please send the task “Next Mental Health” on the Daily Operations Board.
If it looks like a new request: A lot of our patients write in requesting Mental Health Services. For almost all initial MH questions, we can screen the patient first within our Medical provider or PCP provider groups.
For example, if a patient writes in any of the following, we can assign the task to “Next MTM” and let one of our providers hop on a call with the patient before deciding if they need to be referred to our MH team:
“I am wondering if you have any counselors or psychiatrists on staff”
“Can someone refill my Lexapro”
“I am having a lot of anxiety lately, can I talk to someone”
Once our medical team screens the patient, they may deem the patient a safe fit for our Medical or PCP team, OR they may decide the patient’s MH needs are beyond the scope of our general team and refer to Mental Health.
If a referral is necessary, please use an existing task, duplicate the task if you need to keep a copy, or create a task from scratch and do the following:
- Label it: New MH Intake Request
- Make sure patient ID/name is linked in the patient column
- Provide any essential information on the task update and make sure the patient’s chart is current
- Click the “Next Mental Health” Action on the Daily Operations Board
Please note, we try to avoid terminology like “therapy,” or “Mental Health Provider” when talking with a patient. We don’t ever want to promise services. The MH team prefers to use the terminology “Mental Health Professionals” when discussing their team and “Mental Health Support” when discussing services.