Economic grand rounds: the cost of collaboration: predictors of hours spent in collateral contacts.
Collateral contacts, while at the heart of wraparound care, are time consuming and often nonreimbursable. This column presents data from a study of 1,639 child patients. It examined whether the amount of time that clinicians spent in collateral activities could be predicted by demographic variables, child diagnosis, parental psychopathology or family history of mental disorders, or staff variables. For every 60 minutes of direct patient contact, approximately 20 minutes of collateral activities were performed by the clinician. The best predictors of spending time in collateral activities were having parents who were not married, a mother with depression or anxiety, a child patient with a history of substance misuse or abuse, and a child patient with a history of maltreatment.
Gordon
Michael
M
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, SUNY Upstate Medical University, 750 East Adams St., Syracuse, NY 13210, USA. gordonm@upstate.edu
Antshel
Kevin M
KM
Lewandowski
Lawrence
L
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000191:economics / Q000628:therapy*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013997:Time Factors; D000078329:Workforce