Primary Care Medical Practices Create Open Access Scheduling for Behavioral Health Services

Change enables patients to be seen sooner when it is clinically necessary

 

Farmington¾

 

All four Franklin Health primary care medical practices—Pediatrics, Internal Medicine Farmington Family Practice, and Livermore Falls Family Practice—now have open access to schedule patients to be seen at Franklin Health Behavioral Services. This means that staff in the primary care setting can directly schedule appointments for their patients needing mental health and behavioral services.

 

This change enables patients to be seen sooner when it is clinically necessary, or when the primary care provider feels that the patient needs high quality psychiatric expertise. The staff includes one psychiatrist and two psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners.

 

The clinicians at Behavioral Services are: Arthur Dingley, DO, JD; Suzanne Alexis, PMH-NP; and Rebecca Chandler, PMH-NP, CS; who provide psychiatric evaluation and treatment and are specialists in mental health medication management.

 

There are many different complex types of medications for mental health conditions. And, because medication effectiveness can change over time, it is important for people receiving medications for behavioral health problems to have regular contact with the prescribing provider to ensure that the approach being used continues to be safe and effective.

 

Franklin Health Behavioral Services is in the Mt. Blue Health Center, which is located on the Franklin Memorial Hospital campus. A referral from a patient’s primary care provider is needed for appointments. For additional information call 778-0035.