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A New Website for Pregnant and Parenting Women with Substance Use Disorders
The Department of Public Health recently launched an online resource for pregnant and parenting women with substance use disorders, the
Journey Project
. This website emphasizes the importance of peer-to-peer support for women seeking and maintaining treatment and recovery before and after delivery. Featuring an interactive and easy-to-navigate platform, the Journey
Project aims to engage women throughout every step of their treatment and recovery and connects them to local services that can assist with all aspects of pregnancy, delivery, early parenting, and managing their substance use disorders. Services include connections to recovery coaches and peer support groups for families and loved ones of individuals with substance use disorders, linkage to two free hotlines for women struggling with post-partum depression and other behavioral health needs, and resources for women experiencing domestic violence.
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Health and Wellness Resources Website
More people every day turn to the Internet for information on medical and behavioral health issues. That's both good and bad news. Health and wellness outcomes often improve as individuals both learn more about and take on more responsibility for their personal medical and behavioral health concerns. However, ensuring that patients have accurate resources for self-education is critical. Unfortunately, the federal government's Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (
AHRQ
)
Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (
CAHPS ®
)
program cites
research
indicating that in 2011, three-quarters of all adults have looked for health information online, but many of those seeking
health information on the Internet do not follow recommended guidelines for checking the reliability and timeliness of information
.
Half of those surveyed reported that they check the data and source of information only occasionally, hardly ever, or never.
[The Harris Poll #98. Harris Interactive September 15, 2011. Accessed July 28, 2015.]
The good news is that MBHP offers PCC Plan Members a convenient online
Health and Wellness Library
on an award-winning website called Achieve Solutions. Using this website allows Members to easily and privately read clinically reviewed articles, listen to audio clips, view videos, take trainings, and use interactive self-management tools such as quizzes and mobile applications to learn more about and take charge of their health.
Additional resources about evaluating online health information:
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MCPAP for Moms Ready to Help
One in seven women will have
depression or anxiety during or after pregnancy. With approximately 72,000 deliveries in Massachusetts, as many as 1,200 women will screen positive for depression or anxiety.
Obstetric practices are screening in the first and third trimesters as well as after delivery. The recommendation is that pediatric practices screen at the 1-, 2-, 4-, and 6-month well-child visits with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS).
Review MassHealth
billing information
on perinatal depression screening, including validated tools for screening. The result of the screen (negative or positive) must be documented in the billing through use of a modifier attached to the code. If your patient screens positive, the
Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program (MCPAP) for Moms
stands ready to assist.
Did you also know that any provider can call MCPAP for Moms about any mental health or substance use disorder diagnostic, medication, or referral question during the perinatal period? You can call the perinatal psychiatry resource and referral team at (855) 666-6272. They are available during business hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday. For emergencies after hours and on weekends, call your local Emergency Services Program (ESP). For more information, go to www.mcpapformoms.org.
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What is Trauma-Informed Care and Why is it Important?
While a majority of individuals have experienced at least one traumatic experience in their lives, the
National Council for Mental Health Care
notes that for persons with behavioral health issues, trauma is "a near universal experience" frequently occurring during childhood. Studies including the
Adverse Childhood Experience Study
have shown links between such experiences and serious physical and behavioral health consequences later in life.
It is important for providers to know about trauma-informed approaches to primary and behavioral health care, given trauma's prevalence and the potential impact it can have on an individual's health and even on his or her willingness to access care. Such approaches can create better engagement and outcomes, while reducing the possibility of unintentional re-traumatization.
SAMHSA resources:
The National Council for Behavioral Health's trauma-informed care checklist
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Helping Patients Find a MassHealth Dentist and Avoid ED Visits
The next time your MassHealth patient asks for dental advice, refer them to the
new web portal to find a network dentist
. The MassHealth dental program now offers Members online access via a Member tab; they also offer a customer service line. Your Members can benefit by finding a MassHealth dentist, transportation services, information about their dental benefits, and direct help by email from the customer service team.
- Training and support information around the identification of oral health-related conditions, navigating the patient follow-up reporting tool, dental benefits, and how to utilize codes for billing oral health-related issues
- Find a Dentist tool - so that the ED team can search and provide a list of participating MassHealth dentists in the vicinity of the ED or the Member's home to assist him/her in seeking care
If your MassHealth Members have additional questions, please refer them to MassHealth Dental Program Customer Service at 1-800-207-5019 or TTY: 1-800-466-7566 (For people with partial or total hearing loss), between the hours of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.
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The Importance of Depression Screening and the Use of the PHQ-9 as a Screening Tool
The Primary Care Clinician (PCC) Plan and Massachusetts Behavioral Health Partnership (MBHP) encourage providers to conduct routine depression screening for their adult patients as a standard practice. Depression impacts the lives of many people. It is one of the leading causes of disability in adults (Siu, 2016). Approximately 80 percent of adults with depression feel that they had some difficulty at home, at work, or socially because of it (Brody, 2018)
.
It is important to use a validated depression screening tool. The most commonly used tool for depression screening in adults is the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), which assesses the patient's symptoms, functional impairment, and response to treatment. With the results, the provider can make a tentative depression diagnosis and assess symptom severity. The PHQ-9 has been validated in a variety of populations and is available in more than 30 languages. Some providers may choose to use the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2) as a first step for screening patients. The PHQ-2 asks two questions related to symptoms of depression, and patients who screen positive are then asked to complete the PHQ-9.
The PHQ-9 should be administered at an initial office visit and again at four week intervals during the patient's acute phase. It can be re-administered to measure a patient's initial response to an antidepressant, after the patient has been at an adequate dose for four weeks and to determine an initial response to counseling after six weeks (Blount, 2014).
- Blount, A; Awad, L.; Adler, R. An Integrated Approach to Treating Depression in the Primary Care Setting. February 5, 2014.
- Brody DJ, Pratt LA, Hughes J. Prevalence of depression among adults aged 20 and over: United States, 2013-2016. NCHS Data Brief, no 303. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2018.
- Siu, A. Screening for Depression in Adults US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement. JAMA.2016;315(4):380-387 doi:10.1001/jama.2015.18392.
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