What is the role of the psychiatrist in the collaborative care?
The psychiatrist will perform the initial psychiatric evaluation and all follow up visits with you, make a diagnosis and revise it as necessary over time, and prescribe you the psychiatric medications needed to get you well. With your permission, after each visit he will send a copy of the visit note to your primary care provider so they know what medications have been prescribed for you. The only medications the psychiatrist will not prescribe to you directly are any controlled substances, but he can recommend in his note that your primary care provider prescribe those for you. Other things the psychiatrist may recommend to your primary care provider are to order any lab tests, diagnostic studies, or specialist referrals that the psychiatrist may feel are important in managing your condition.
Other questions related to Collaborative Care
- What if I don’t currently have a primary care provider or I find that the one I have doesn’t want to work with me in this way?
- What are controlled substance medications?
- What is my primary care provider’s role in this collaboration?
- Is there any additional cost for getting collaborative psychiatric care?
- What do we mean by Collaborative Care Psychiatry?
- How do I receive this collaborative psychiatric care?
- How might I get controlled medications from my primary care provider?
- Why is collaborative psychiatry more efficient?
- How do my psychiatrist and primary care provider communicate with each other?
- Why will I get more fully well with collaborative psychiatry?