Increasing Access To Perinatal Mental Health Care: The Perinatal Psychiatry Access Program Model

• Published in: Health affairs Web exclusive Vol. 43; no. 4; p. 557
• Main Authors: Schaefer, Ana J, Mackie, Thomas, Veerakumar, Ekaanth S, Sheldrick, Radley Christopher, Moore Simas, Tiffany A, Valentine, Jeanette, Cowley, Deborah, Bhat, Amritha, Davis, Wendy, Byatt, Nancy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.04.2024
• Subjects: Female; Humans; Mental Health; Mental Health Services; Pregnancy; Psychiatry; Referral and Consultation; Telephone; United States; United States
• ISSN: 1544-5208
• DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2023.01439

Perinatal psychiatry access programs offer a scalable approach to building the capacity of perinatal professionals to identify, assess, and treat mental health conditions. Little is known about access programs' implementation and the relative merits of differing approaches. We conducted surveys and semistructured interviews with access program staff and reviewed policy and procedure documents from the fifteen access programs that had been implemented in the United States as of March 2021, when the study was conducted. Since then, the number of access programs has grown to thirty state, regional, or national programs. Access programs implemented up to five program components, including telephone consultation with a perinatal psychiatry expert, one-time patient-facing consultation with a perinatal psychiatry expert, resource and referral to perinatal professionals or patients, trainings for perinatal professionals, and practice-level technical assistance. Characterizing population-based intervention models, such as perinatal psychiatry access programs, that address perinatal mental health conditions is a needed step toward evaluating and improving programs' implementation, reach, and effectiveness.