Psychiatry & Behavioral Medicine
Overview
The providers in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Department assess, diagnose and treat children and adolescents from infancy to age 18. Services for young adults 18-21 may be available in specialized programs. A primary focus is treatment of children and adolescents with coping, behavioral or psychiatric concerns associated with acute or chronic medical illnesses or neurodevelopmental disorders, such as organ transplant, cancer and craniofacial issues. We utilize a variety of state-of-the-art modalities to assess and treat complex or unusual psychiatric and psychological disorders. A request from a primary care or behavioral health provider is required to be seen in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Department at Children's.
Areas of Particular Focus
- Autism spectrum disorders
- Complicated and or treatment resistant attention deficit disorders
- Children with co-occurring medical and surgical conditions
- Depression/anxiety/mood and bipolar disorders with co-existing medical illnesses
- Eating disorders - pre-care evaluation to assess inpatient treatment, and limited outpatient services
- Inpatient hospitalization for children and adolescents who require short term stabilization and support for reintegration into their communities.
- Telepsychiatry service for long-distance consultation with partner sites in Wenatchee, Olympia, Yakima, Longview and Aberdeen, Wash. and Ketchikan, Alaska
Providers at local community mental health centers and in the private practice community are able to provide appropriate diagnosis and treatment of primary mental health issues. We support a system that emphasizes receiving primary care services from these community providers and have provided a list of resources for your reference.
Medicaid requires that patients receive mental health care in their county of residence unless the appointment is for a second opinion or medication consult only. If the patient lives outside of King County and you are not requesting those services, please refer the patient back to his current behavioral health provider or regional services network.
Submitting a request for a new appointment
Please review the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Request for Services Decision Tree (PDF 45KB) to help determine if Children’s is the best provider to see your patient.
You may either phone or fax in your request for a new appointment.
To phone in a request
Call (206) 987-3560 for the Psychiatry Intake Office.
Toll free: 1 (866) 987-2000, ext 7-3560.
Your call will be processed by a family service representative in the Intake Office, who will collect brief demographic and clinical information about your patient. The intake staff may request that you fax additional clinical information so they can triage and prepare for the appointment appropriately.
To fax in a request
The Request for New Appointments (NARF) is used for new requests to all clinics in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine department.
Please fax the New Appointment Request Form to (206) 985-3121.
To ensure appropriate scheduling and coordination of your patient’s care with Children’s, please include all information requested on the NARF.
A member of the intake staff will review the request and contact you with any questions or to request additional information.
You will receive a fax confirming that your NARF has been received. Once an appointment is scheduled, you will receive a letter with the date and time of the appointment.
Partnership Access Line
Children’s Hospital offers a child mental health consultation program called the Partnership Access Line (PAL) for DSHS. PAL provides:
- Rapid telephone access to child psychiatrists
- Rapid patient consultation appointments with psychiatric specialists
- Behavioral health education opportunities, free practical care guides and patient handouts
- Assistance finding psychiatric resources
Providers do not have to enroll to use the service; simply call the toll free number during business hours (9 a.m. -5 p.m.) with any type of child mental health question, and a PAL representative will pick up the phone. Providers can be reimbursed for their phone time with PAL involving DSHS clients.
The number is 866-599-PALS (7257). More information can be found at www.palforkids.org.
PAL is currently available in the following southwest Washington counties:
- Clark
- Clallam
- Cowlitz
- Grays Harbor
- Jefferson
- Klickitat
- Lewis
- Mason
- Pacific
- Skamania
- Thurston
- Whakiakum
As of autumn 2008, the program will expand to cover Northeast Washington as well.
Community Behavioral Health Resources
Below is a list of those diagnoses or conditions for which community resources are available to serve your patients’ needs. We have included links that may help you find appropriate help for your child.
Patients who are covered only by DSHS/Medicaid and reside outside of King County
Due to Medicaid requirements for mental health service provision within the county of residence, patients need to be referred to a contracted provider in their county of residence.
http://www1.dshs.wa.gov/mentalhealth/rsndirectory.shtml
Uncomplicated and/or untreated attention deficit disorders
http://www2.ci.seattle.wa.us/crisisclinic/
http://www.nwchadd.org/
Sexual abuse/sexual assault
http://www1.dshs.wa.gov/ca/safety/abuseReport.asp?2
http://www.childrensresponsecenter.org/
http://www2.ci.seattle.wa.us/crisisclinic/
http://www.kcsarc.org/
Custody/court/forensic-related evaluations
http://depts.washington.edu/petp/
http://www.metrokc.gov/kcsc/famlaw/services.htm#parentingPlan
Learning disabilities/neuropsychological testing
http://www.ldawa.org
http://web.psych.washington.edu/clinic/Idc.html