Clinical Integration at PM Pediatrics

The statistics today are worrisome, with suicide now the second leading cause of death in youth aged 10-24 and the eighth leading cause of death in children 5-10 years of age (CDC 2021). Healthcare providers focusing on this crucial care can help address the nationwide shortage of mental and behavioral health services for children, teens, and young adults. PM Pediatric Care is one organization working to do just that.

PM Pediatric Care is the largest pediatric urgent care provider in the U.S., with a national telemedicine presence and nearly 100 physical locations in more than 15 states. Recognizing the growing epidemic of mental health challenges, PM Pediatric Care has evolved beyond the traditional urgent care model to meet the alarmingly growing rate of mental health needs.

“Right now, there’s nothing more urgent than the mental health of our youth, and we have a responsibility to leverage our pediatric expertise in addressing the problem,” shared Dr. Jeanne Marconi, Vice President of Clinical Integration at PM Pediatric Care. “In our position as pediatric urgent care experts, we know how to best support families with immediate care. We know how to integrate and collaborate with a child’s medical home and with their schools. We’re in a fantastic position to make a difference.”

Dr. Marconi explains that PM Pediatric Care has embraced behavioral and mental health care to meet the escalating needs of children, young adults, and their families. Their program delivers behavioral and mental health services virtually and on-site in select locations. Mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and suicide continue to rise, and PM Pediatric Care’s commitment includes treatment and early identification and intervention.

Early intervention through screening has proven paramount. As many as 80% of youth who commit suicide have visited a provider in the 30 days before a tragic event, and 90% of parents had no idea their child was struggling. “All providers in the medical neighborhood have an opportunity to identify youth at risk for suicide – and many aren’t doing enough. We recognize that screening at annual well visits is important, but many of these tragedies occur between these infrequent visits. Because visits to our centers can sometimes be more frequent, and because we see such a high number of patients in the identified age group, we’ve developed a formal program to support the screening process at each of our locations,” Marconi shared. 

PM Pediatric Care recently implemented universal screening for suicide in youth using the ASQ (Ask Suicide Questions), which takes the patient approximately 20 seconds to complete and has a high sensitivity of 96.9% and specificity of 87.6% (Horowitz et al. 2012).

Initial data collected by PM Pediatric Care mirrors a published study, with a similar sample size by Patel et al. (2018), with a 4% positivity rate. Less than 1% of those who screened positive had a mental health complaint. After identification, safety, and treatment plans were initiated with the patients and their families.

It is evident that early screening provides hope for many who may have otherwise succumbed to the silent suffering of mental health disease. Marconi also pointed out, “With emerging improvements in technology to complete these screens, we hope to have an easy, quick, and impactful way to screen children and young adults and provide intervention as needed that will hopefully decrease the incidence of suicide in our youth.”

The PM Pediatric Care team has already collected several harrowing stories of young patients who were actively planning to end their lives but were successfully screened and supported by PM Pediatric Care’s team of child therapists, psychologists, and pediatric psychiatrists. “Even just one life saved is worth it. The fact that we’re already helping so many families and children we are incredibly proud and hope other providers follow suit.”