Frequently Asked Questions
General CPAN and PeriPAN Information
What are the Child Psychiatry Access Network and the Perinatal Psychiatry Access Network?
CPAN and PeriPAN are trusted state-funded programs for clinicians who treat children, youth, and/or pregnant and postpartum mothers with mental health concerns. These programs offer clinician-to-clinician consultations related to specific patients or general questions, care coordination, and training to build your capacity and assist with identifying and treating mental health issues in your patients.
Why do I need CPAN?
One in five children has a diagnosable mental, behavioral, or developmental disorder—and
many more children and youth have persistent mental health symptoms.
Why do I need PeriPAN?
One in five perinatal women has a mental health condition, and mental health needs are the leading underlying cause of pregnancy-related death in the U.S. and Texas.
Texas children, youth, and perinatal patients are experiencing unprecedented mental health challenges and facing a shortage of psychiatrists and other mental health clinicians. Those who are treated can and do recover. CPAN and PeriPAN are here to offer support, education, and rapid peer consultation to help you expand your capacity and provide the standard of care your patients need.
How can I enroll?
Clinicians or clinic administrators can call 888-901-2726 and sign up within 5 minutes for both CPAN and PeriPAN at once.
Clinic administrators can enroll multiple clinicians.
Who should call?
CPAN is available to clinicians who provide care to children and youth.
PeriPAN is available to clinicians who are involved in the care of women in the prenatal, perinatal, birthing, and postpartum period, including well-baby care.
| Call CPAN | Call PeriPAN | |
|---|---|---|
| OB/GYNs | Yes | |
| Pediatricians | Yes | Yes |
| Family Practice Clinicians | Yes | Yes |
| Psychiatrists | Yes | Yes |
| Psychologists | Yes | Yes |
| Midwives | Yes | |
| Other Primary Care Physicians | Yes | Yes |
| Nurses and Other Clinicians | Yes | Yes |
What can I use CPAN and PeriPAN for?
These programs provide the following support:
- Real-time patient care consultation from a mental health clinician.
- Vetted and patient-specific resources and referrals within one business day.
- Free CMEs and other learning opportunities.
How do CPAN and PeriPAN work?
- Call 888-901-2726 when you have a mental health question about a patient. Enrolled clinicians can also text us using the unique texting number for your CPAN/PeriPAN team.
- You will speak directly with a mental health clinician to assess and address your query, or we will call you back within 5 minutes.
- Depending on clinical need and patient population, either a reproductive or child psychiatrist will return your call within 30 minutes. You can also schedule a call back at your preferred time. Our psychiatrists can provide one-time direct patient consults when needed at no cost to you or the patient/family.
- If you have a referral or resource question, a mental health specialist can assist you and provide you with a vetted list within one business day.
- If you want to learn more about treating mental health needs among child and perinatal
patients, you can participate in
one of our frequent and free CMEs.
How can I keep up with current program offerings, resources, CMEs, and mental health news?
We regularly offer free CMEs, Project ECHO collaborative learning opportunities, and mental and behavioral health news and resources for clinicians. This includes free 0.5-hour or 1-hour ethics CMEs for your team. Visit Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium to learn more.
You can also follow CPAN/PeriPAN on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Who provides CPAN and PeriPAN services?
A team of 12 academic health-related institutions across Texas work together to provide peer-to-peer telehealth consultations to clinicians. Dedicated child and reproductive mental health professionals are ready to support you, so you can better support the mental health needs of your patients.
Cost and Billing
How much does it cost to use CPAN or PeriPAN?
All CPAN and PeriPAN services are offered at no cost to the patient or provider. These are clinician-to-clinician services and do not require patient insurance or a fee. Our team may inquire about patient insurance to better align referrals with your patient’s needs.
Can I bill my time for reimbursement when I use CPAN or PeriPAN?
Calling CPAN may be justification to document increased time or complexity-based coding. Calling PeriPAN may be justification to document increased time or complexity-based coding if outside the global billing window.
Can I refer my patient to CPAN or PeriPAN for direct mental health services?
During a clinician-to-clinician consultation, you and the psychiatrist may decide that a one-time direct assessment of the patient will assist in diagnostic clarification and/or treatment planning. CPAN or PeriPAN will provide this one-time assessment, and you will remain the ongoing health care clinician for the patient. CPAN and PeriPAN are clinician-to-clinician consultation services and do not offer ongoing direct mental health care to patients.
Contacting CPAN and PeriPAN
How do I contact CPAN and PeriPAN?
Call 888-901-2726 and follow the prompt for direct routing to your regional team for psychiatry consultation, referrals, and resources–or text your HRI team to begin a request.
What times can I call or text for help?
Our staff are available on the phones Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., except for institutional holidays (e.g., New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving, etc.). There is also a secure voicemail system where you can always leave a message outside of these times and receive a call back during regular business hours the next business day. You can text your regional CPAN/PeriPAN team anytime.
Note that CPAN/PeriPAN is not a crisis line. If your patient is in crisis, call 988 instead.
What information do you need from me when I call?
CPAN and PeriPAN will need the reason for your call, the patient’s name or initials, date of birth, race, ethnicity, insurance information (if applicable), medical/patient record number (so that our staff can reference the call if you call again about the same patient), and the zip code of where the patient lives (so that staff can look for referrals closest to the patient’s home). We will also need a good contact number and email/fax number for sending any referrals/resources you need.
For more information, call 888-901-2726 dial 1, then 3, email CPANinfo@uttyler.edu, or go to TXPeriPAN.org and TXCPAN.org.