From MCPAP: Useful information

From the folks at MCPAP:

According to a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, both cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and sertraline (Zoloft) reduce the severity of anxiety in children diagnosed with anxiety disorder.  The study goes on to show that a combination of the two therapies show superior results.

How can a primary care clinician actually know whether the therapy that his/her patient is receiving is true CBT?  Many therapists state that they practice CBT techniques.  However, few have been formally trained and supervised to administer CBT.

Our newly designed website contains an article which illustrates the differences between CBT and other therapies.  This article written by Sara Brewer, MD, child psychiatrist at our Baystate MCPAP hub, can be found exclusively in the Spotlight section of our newly designed website at www.mcpap.com.

If you missed our forums on the MassHealth mandated behavioral health screening tools, be sure to download a copy of our Primary Care Behavioral Health Toolkit available at our new website.  Also available on our website is the CRAFFT toolkit (acronym) for Car, Relax, Alone, Forget Friends, Trouble).  The CRAFFT screens for substance abuse

Our newly designed website also contains helpful information and many links to behavioral health resources.

 In our “Services” section, we explain what services MCPAP provides to primary care clinicians.  We also include information about our school pilot program and our screening tool consultation project. The “Find a Provider” directory contains links to MassHealth and commercial insurances.  We also included a form which primary care clinicians can fill out if they want more information about enrolling with MCPAP.  Our “Clinical Reference “ directory contains links to an extensive array of resources that a primary care clinician may need when treating children with behavioral health needs within the primary care setting.  These include medication guidelines, clinical practice guidelines, state agencies and more.  Our “Screening Tools” page contains resources and links for behavioral health screening within the primary care setting.  The “Diagnosis” section contains clinical guidelines, rating scales, and parent information and handouts for the following diagnoses: ADHD, anxiety,  autism/PDD/ASD, bipolar,  conduct disorder, depression, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, oppositional defiance disorder,post traumatic stress disorder,  schizophrenia, and substance abuse.  The “Behavioral Health Events” page currently provides information about the upcoming MCPAP Child Psychiatry in Primary Care Conference to be held in Holyoke on May 27, 2009.  Also you may find information about the upcoming forums titled How Primary Care Clinicians Can Help Patients Access the New Children’s Behavioral Health Initiative Services to be held on June 10, 2009 in West Springfield and on June 16, 2009 in Waltham at the Massachusetts Medical Society.

If you have feedback/comments/questions regarding our new website, please send them to mcpap@valueoptions.com.

New website does look pretty!