Project ECHO, a collaboration between the Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Health & Science University, is helping primary care providers in rural Oregon learn what to do when parents come to them with children's mental health issues.
Psychiatrists who specialize in treating children are often few and far between, especially in rural Oregon. So most parents’ first step for children with mental health needs is a visit to a primary care doctor.
The Oregon Health Authority's Transformation Center is working with OHSU to boost the capacity of primary care providers to diagnose and treat children's mental health issues. Ensuring that primary care providers have resources available is critical to achieving high quality care and the best outcomes for Oregon’s kids.
OHSU's Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is an evidence-based tele-mentoring model. Primary care providers learn from specialty providers over a live video conference.
Twenty-nine primary care providers from 17 clinics around the state – most of them in rural areas, and all outside the Portland metro area – are participating. Each week, participants connect to a live session that includes lectures and case reviews with child psychiatrists, pediatricians and a pharmacist. Topics include anxiety, depression, learning disabilities, trauma, medication management and other pediatric mental health issues.
This statewide “upskilling” approach benefits families, who can now receive better care closer to home. It also saves money by reducing referrals to specialists.
“I feel more capable of handling mental health and behavioral issues in children, adolescents and families," says Larissa Thomas, MD, a participating primary care doctor in Burns. "It’s very reassuring that I’m not alone, have a resource to turn to and can serve as a resource to my partners and community.”
This ECHO clinic is a spin-off of an ongoing OHSU Project ECHO that focuses on adult psychiatric medication management, which was launched in 2014 with funding from OHA and Health Share of Oregon. Learn more about the Child Psychiatry Project ECHO and the Transformation Center’s work.
This project is funded through Oregon’s State Innovation Model grant from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation.
Primary care providers around the state videoconference with child psychiatry specialists (l-r) Ajit Jetmalani, MD, Keith Cheng, MD, and Rebecca Marshall, MD.
