When Matthew Press, MD, was hired to lead Penn Medicine’s primary care practices, the first thing he did was create a system to help clinicians treat patients with mental health conditions, particularly those at risk of suicide.
“I knew how much our primary care clinicians were struggling to help these patients,” said Press, an associate professor of medicine at Penn Medicine and former physician executive of Penn Primary Care in Philadelphia. “Primary care providers have not been equipped with the tools to manage mental health conditions well; they have been sort of alone in the effort and feeling, I think, pretty overwhelmed by that.”
“Having that team of experts right there, connected to your practice and in coordination with everything else that is happening with care for that patient, is really a win-win,” Press said.