How to make effective behavioral health referrals
This page describes how to help your patients access appropriate behavioral health services. It includes:
A description of the four types of services offered by our Department.
How to help patients who need services that our Department may not be able to offer.
How to use our referral coordination service.
How to use our Referral Database.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
(1) A quick guide to behavioral health referrals
(2) Referral coordination
(3) Patients often best served by a direct referral
(5) Integrated behavioral health
(6) Outpatient psychotherapy
(7) Neurocognitive evaluations
(8) How to use our Referral Database
(9) Additional guidance regarding referrals
(10) Provide us feedback if you have questions or concerns
(1) A quick guide to behavioral health referrals
This page is designed to help you quickly determine the most appropriate course of action depending on your patient's presenting problem. The sections below provide more detailed information.
(2) Referral coordination
Our Department offers a referral coordination service that is staffed by our Referral Coordinator in consultation with our Department Chair and other providers. Our Coordinator is available to advise any Clinic provider or staff member who has a question about behavioral health referrals. You may reach the Coordinator by calling 541-754-1288 or extension 2702. Our Coordinator also assists referred patients with finding appropriate services. Patients we cannot accommodate in our Department are given a carefully designed list of providers in the community.
(3) Patients often best served by a direct referral
Patients who need services not offered by our Behavioral Health Department may often be best served by a direct referral from their physician's office to services outside the Clinic. Referring these patients to our department can be confusing for these patients and can delay their care. Our Department does not offer the following services: psychiatric services, treatment for substance use disorders, and psychotherapy for children. We also do not accept Medicare, Medicaid (OHP-IHN), and TriWest (Veteran's Choice / PC3). You can use the links above to obtain information necessary to make an effective referral. If you need advice, please call our Referral Coordinator. If you are in a department staffed by an integrated behaviorist, you can consult with them.
We may not be able to offer crisis intervention services for patients at high risk, including patients at imminent or high risk for suicide, and patients with severe psychiatric symptoms (e.g., bipolar, psychosis). These patients may often be best served by a direct referral from their physician's office to services outside the Clinic. Please follow the link above for more information about how to help these patients.
(5) Integrated Behavioral Health
Our Integrated Behavioral Health program is currently staffed by 3.5 FTE providers who serve the providers of the departments listed below. Our integrated behaviorists can consult with medical providers and often can offer more timely patient access than a referral to specialty behavioral health services. Integrated behaviorists typically provide brief interventions that enhance patients' coping skills and can facilitate referrals to longer-term care. We plan to hire additional integrated behaviorists to serve other departments in the future.
Internal Medicine at Asbury (Elise Bascom, PhD)
Philomath Family Medicine (Adrian Egger, PsyD)
Pediatrics (Cara Wheeler, PsyD)
OB/GYN (Cara Wheeler, PsyD)
Primary care at Waverly Drive (Daryl Handlin, LCSW; .5 FTE)
(6) Outpatient psychotherapy
Our Department is currently staffed with 2.5 FTE psychotherapists: Nelson Binggeli, PhD, and Diane Habel, LCSW, and Daryl Handlin, LCSW (.5 FTE). These providers are able to offer diagnostic evaluations and generalist outpatient psychotherapy. Dr. Binggeli serves adults, Ms. Habel serves patients above age 14, and Mr. Handlin serves patients above age 11. Our Department currently receives 2 to 3 times the number of referrals that our psychotherapists can accommodate. Our Referral Coordinator offers those we cannot accommodate with appropriate referrals in the community. For new patients, the typical wait time is 4 to 8 weeks. To submit a referral for outpatient psychotherapy, please create an Order in Athena and specify "psychotherapy." We are currently recruiting for 2 new providers of psychotherapy.
(7) Neurocognitive evaluations
Our Department employs two psychologists who offer certain types of neurocognitive evaluations. Unfortunately, we currently do not offer evaluations for dementia. Contact our Referral Coordinator for recommendations and/or see our list of providers. To submit a referral, please create an Order in Athena and specify "neurocognitive evaluation." Our providers and services are:
Joyce Fusek, PsyD, offers neurocognitive evaluations for individuals aged 6 to 30 years old. She specializes in ADHD, autism, learning disabilities, and behavioral and social/emotional disorders.
Jennifer Hogansen, PhD, offers neurocognitive evaluations for patients of all ages. She specializes in evaluations for brain injuries and developmental differences including ADHD, learning disorders, and autism spectrum disorders.
(8) How to use our Referral Database
To understand how this database is organized, please see the Table of Contents on the Home Page. Our Master Lists attempt to provide comprehensive lists of providers of psychotherapy, psychiatric services, and social services. There are also pages on which providers are listed by presenting problems (e.g., disorders), populations (e.g., children; veterans), locations (e.g., the Coast, Salem), type of service (e.g., couple's counseling, neurocognitive testing), and by insurance plan.
(9) Additional guidance regarding referrals
Providers and patients benefit when they hold realistic expectations about how patients can obtain appropriate behavioral health services. While it can be challenging, it is not impossible. It requires obtaining the necessary knowledge and sufficient persistence. This Database was created to help providers and patients obtain the necessary knowledge. Beyond that, patients need to be prepared to contact as many of the providers as is necessary. Too often, patients give up after an insufficient number of calls. The following page was developed to patients understand how to find appropriate behavioral health services. Please feel free to share it with your patients.
(10) Provide us feedback if you have questions or concerns
Our Department is committed to high quality patient care. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns about referral coordination or the services we offer. If you have questions about referral coordination or general questions about the services we offer, please contact our Referral Coordinator (at 541-754-1288 or extension 2702). If you have other concerns, please contact our Department Chair (currently Nelson Binggeli, PhD) via phone (extension 2174) or email.