Patient Care Access News

Follow-Up Care Missing for Half of Kids with Mental Health Emergencies

Researchers found that only 56 percent of children receiving emergency care for mental health crises get necessary follow-up care, a concerning finding given the pediatric mental health crisis.

Source: Getty Images

By Sarai Rodriguez

- A recent study showed that rates of follow-up care are lacking among children with mental health emergencies, underscoring the need for stronger patient engagement after hospitalization.

These findings come in the midst of the ongoing pediatric mental health crisis in the United States, which was only amplified by the coronavirus pandemic.

The study, which included more than 28,000 Medicaid-enrolled children ages 6 to 17, found that less than one-third had follow-up care within seven days of being discharged from a mental health emergency visit from January 2018 to June 2019.