Video: Dr. Forbes on Behavioral Health
What is a Patient-Centered Medical Home and why does it matter? Dr. Forbes explains, detailing why the Patient-Centered Medical Home approach delivers better results for patients with behavioral health conditions like ADHD.
Hi, I’m Dr. Michelle Forbes. I am a pediatrician at MD Pediatrics, and I’d like to talk about behavioral health today.
At MD Pediatrics, we treat all of our patients, especially patients with behavioral health conditions, in the context of a Patient-Centered Medical Home.
Patient-Centered Medical Home
Patient-Centered Medical Home is a designation that we’re proud to have, and that means that we treat each patient as a whole person. So we see them as patient, a son, a daughter, a student, an athlete, a scout member…we like to look at the whole picture.
When it come to things like ADHD and making the diagnosis, we like to get input form several areas. We do an assessment in the office, and we’ll get assessment input from parents and teachers. We do that because input from different contexts informs our diagnosis and makes it more accurate.
After we make a diagnosis, we’ll prescribe any number of treatments, sometimes including medicine but often times bringing in a behavioral coach of sorts. We can bring in an ADD coach, psychologist, psychiatrist, or social worker as needed to help your child.
Once we make the diagnosis, we continue to get input from multiple sources so that we can evaluate. Are the coaches that we brought in appropriate? Is the medicine that we prescribed appropriate, and does it need to be fine tuned? Are accommodations at school working out so that your child can be successful?
In addition to getting information and feedback on a regular basis from multiple sources, we want to see your child for a checkup every year. That way we’re not only focused on the behavior health issues; we’re focused on the overall health and wellness of your child.
Thanks for listening. We at MD Pediatrics are really excited to be part of the team taking care of your child.
